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THE DETOUR 



THE DETOUR 



A PLAY 

BY 

OWEN DAVIS 



1S[6M»referYI 







BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

1922 



Copyright, 1921, 1922^ 
By Owek Davis 






All rights reserved 
Published, May, 1923 



Application for the right of performing "The Detour" 
must be made to Owen Davis, 987 Madison Avenue, New 
York City. 

No performance of this play, professional or amateur, — 
or public reading of it — may be given without the written 
permission of the author and the payment of royalty. 



Printed in the United States of America 



JUN «1 72 

©Cf.O 6 Of) 4 I 



FOREWORD 

" The Detour " needs no justification for its appear- 
ance in print. It is one of those studies in realism 
which — whether seen or read — impresses by reason 
of its tremendous sincerity. As such, it should be 
regarded as an encouraging, an all too rare sign of 
the deepening of native dramaturgic art in the Ameri- 
can theatre. 

The dramatic critic was right who declared that, 
had " The Detour " been produced as the work of an 
unknown author, it would have been hailed as the 
putting forth, the flowering of a rare native plant, 
from which much might be expected in the future. I 
see no reason why this should not apply just as well 
to a dramatist who, like Mr. Owen Davis, has been 
brought up, dramatically, in the glare of melodrama, 
and who has — after learning the tricks of his trade — ' 
broken from the type of play expected of him, only 
to give us something bigger, something more profound, 
more nearly what might be designated as an Ameri- 
can genre drama. All the more reason, it seems, for 

us to rejoice that gold has turned up as precursor, 

we hope, of a rich vein to follow. 

Sincerity is at the basis of any worthy play, whether 
of realism or of the imagination. Otherwise, painting 
things as they are degenerates into mere photography 
and usually attracts by reason of two cardinal excel- 

V 



vi FOREWORD 

lences or faults, according to your point of view: curi- 
osity and vulgar attractiveness. Naturalism is a can- 
># cerous growth on the face of art; realism is the ar- 
rangement of life as we know it, rising out of human 
relationship. The one is bald fact, the other truth 
artistically clad because of a burning faith in life's 
continuity. 

This burning faith enriches the whole story of " The 
Detour " ; and continuity marks the merit of its struc- 
ture. Mr. Davis has seen clearly, has sensed fully — 
noting the myriad facets shaped from the materials of 

the humblest life shades of character and various 

motives inherent in locality and tradition. His play 
has the tang of the soil about it ; it exudes a flavor 
born of struggle against environment. It does not 
strain after contrast of fitness with unfitness, with a 
certain cruel formlessness which marks Eugene 
O'Neill's " Beyond the Horizon." It does not attempt 
to compress folk-legend with reality as Alice Brown 
does in her passionless " Children of Earth." It does 
not strive for miniature interest, so strikingly concen- 
trated in Susan Glaspell's " Trifles." " The Detour " 
— if there is anything conscious at all about its struc- 
ture — systematically discards the machinery of the- 
atricalism and is starkly simple. But, like all simple 
things in life, it is able to carry with it, rising out 
of character and situation, real racy humor and prob- 
lems common to all — not alone to those whose vision 
is closed in by the boundaries of farm life. 

The burning glass of drama has persistently nar- 
rowed the canvas of the theatre these many years. Yet 
dramatists in America have been loath to give up 
manipulation of action for the sake of genre work and 



FOREWORD vii 

genuine creativeness. James A. Heme, our early realist 
in the modern American theatre, rose far above the 
rural drama with which he is mistakenly identified ; he 
possessed a profound sympathy with character and 
could draw from narrow, yet rich circumstance, homely 
truth — in its fundamentals not so unlike universal 
truth. Amidst the melodrama of " Shore Acres " he 
wrote such palpitant scenes as that of Nathaniel Berry 
and his brother discussing the sale of the farm. He 
wrote an entire play, " Margaret Fleming," daring for 
its day, an intensive domestic tragedy. " The Detour," 
in its treatment, is of the same caliber — with the tech- 
nique of life itself. 

I recall once — in the olden days when an eighteen- 
hour flier-train service between New York and Chicago 
was a novelty — riding in the cab of an engine thus 
destined to eat up space on a cold February afternoon, 
just as the shadows of twilight were beginning to turn 
the Hudson River into a sheet of cold white steel. 
There were streaks of color in the wintry sky and 
a streak of red glow from the intense furnace of our 
cab, as the train sped on at sixty miles an hour. At a 
curve, the fireman crept to the cab door of the engine 
and swung out on the step, clinging to a side rail. 
Against the cold swish of wind he let fly a bundle of 
papers in the direction of a shanty, far down a bank- 
side and into a hollow. I leaned out of the window 
in time to see a bent old woman open the door of her 
shack and make for those papers. The fireman yelled 
to me an explanation — above the roar of the steam, 
the shrill blast of the whistle, the rumble of wheels 
over the ribbons of rail — "I bring her the news from 
New York once a week." 



Tiii FOREWORD 

Here, in this action, was material for melodrama 
and realism. Mr. Davis, by evidence of " The Detour," 
could handle both treatments. In art, the difference 
in the technique would be the difference between a 
poster that arrests the eye, and Rembrandt's " Old 
Woman Paring Her Nails " that challenges the creative 
instinct in us. In one mood, the thrill of the ride, 
the danger of the fireman's precarious position would 
have appealed to Mr. Davis, as an unconscious act of 
daily heroism ; in another mood he would have wondered 
at the life of the woman in the shack — tried to square 
with her bowed figure the forces shaping her destiny, as 
Maeterlinck said of the old man seated silent in his 
armchair. There is no question as to which is the 
profounder drama. 

One day, at Northport, Long Island, Mr. Davis sat 
in his car, overlooking a farm, with its lonely house in 
the distance. There were evidences aound it, even in 
its typical isolation, of a woman's hand. The creative 
mind is always eager for such sign posts of life on which 
to fasten its tentacles. Mayhap a detour made his 
chauffeur skirt around the farm, thus denying it con- 
tact with the life of the open road. From such sim- 
ple beginnings, " The Detour " was evolved. 

Mr. Davis has always claimed and asked that a critic 
judge each separate work of his on its own merits. He 
is justified in this request. We do judge the present 
play as a supreme picture of farm life, of mother love 
and wifely rebellion, where the tragedy is twofold — in 
the woman's yearning and stirring for self-expression 
through her daughter; and in the daughter's inade- 
quacy through the inheritance of her father's stodgi- 
ness and the confining claim of the soil upon her. In 



FOREWORD ix 

most of its dimensions the play holds measure. I do 
not claim flawlessness for it; I do claim for it bigness 
of intent. 

Mr. Davis's previous inroads into the realm of melo- 
drama do not have to be known for any appreciation 
of " The Detour." There is no special reason for re- 
calling those days when he wrote from ten to twelve 
such pieces a year — their names are as bloodcurdling 
as those which came from the pen of David Belasco 
when he was writing for mining towns out in California 
— except to state that he must have perfected his tech- 
nical expertness in such a hard school. It is a glow- 
ing tribute to Mr. Da^as's essential worth that he can 
now give us " The Detour " — so calm, so progressively 
fatalistic, so quiet in its outbursts — after association 
with a method that often deadens sensitiveness to char- 
acter. 

But we are all conscious — we who go continually to 
the theatre or read many plays — that there is an- 
other step to take beyond realism'. I find Mr. Davis 
ready to take it. In the atmosphere of realism, with 
which our stage has been drenched, there has been felt 
the need of a more palpitant spirit, akin to mysticism, 
yet more attached to earthly attainment. The mother, 
in " The Detour," shows glints of this spirit — the un- 
quenchable determination to outwit environment, rise 
higher than circumstance. It is a step thoroughly 
in consonance with the American character. Given the 
ability to write such reaHstic scenes as are here de- 
picted, and the desire to infuse into the materials of 
character an aspiration which overcomes adversity, and 
a play greater and wider in its stage appeal than " The 
Detour " could be written. But one must have evidences 



X FOREWORD 

of such a play as the present one before one can hope 
for the other. 

I am confident that " The Detour " represents thus 
far one of our highest attainments in American reahsm 
for the stage. It is worthy to be read widely; as a 
representative of native genre work it is worthy of con- 
sideration abroad. It is a play that any repertory 
theatre should welcome. Such sheer realism requires 
sheer acting, and invites and challenges the best in 
players. It is rarely that an American playwright pen- 
etrates so deeply into American life. That is why I 
greet " The Detour " heartily as " the real thing " in 
the theatre. 

Montrose J. Moses. 



THE DETOUR 



"The Detour'* was originally produced in New York 
August 23, 1921, with the following cast: 

Stephen Hardy Augustin Duncan 

Helen, his wife Efpe Shannon 

Kate, their daughter Angela McCahill 

Tom Lane, Willard Robertson 

Dana Lamont Harry Andrews 

Dora Lamont Eva Condon 

Ben Glenny Claude Cooper 

Weinstein James R. Waters 

Jake Chester Herman 



ACT L 
Mrs. Hardy's Kitchen. 

ACT II. 

The Veranda, That afternoon. 

ACT III. 

The Kitchen, A little later. 

Time: The Present. 

The Place: Near Northport, L. I. 



THE DETOUR 



ACT I 

Scene: Kitchen of Stephen Hardy^s farmhouse on 
the road to Northport (Long Island), a simple, home- 
like room quite without any of the conveniences of mod- 
ern vnvention, and equally without any studied air of 
grimness. The room should be as unpretentious as the 
play and as far away from symbolism, — just the plain 
home of plain people. Door back left to yard; a rather 
wide window back right looks out upon side veranda. 
Door to hall at left. Cook stove right. Sink above 
stove. This kitchen, out of respect for the " parlor ", 
is used as the family living room, and the small dinvng 
table at right is now covered with a dull red cloth. 
Door to a " pantry " at right below stove; when this 
door is open it is possible to see the usual flour barrel, 
sugar bucket, etc. Near the window at back is a 
cheap easel on which is a conventional water color; on 
a stand by the easel are a few odds and ends of an 
artistes paraphernalia. There is a shelf above the 
stove, and among the articles on this shelf is a rather 
hideous old jug in which is a bunch of artificial flowers. 

It is early afternoon of a July day. At right center, 
seated by the table, is Kate Hardy, a girl of eighteen; 



THE DETOUR [act 



Helen Hardy, her mother, is in the doorway looking 
out. 

HELElSr 

All right! 

[She crosses down to shelf above the stove and tak- 
ing the jug in which are the artificial flowers, she 
crosses to the table at right center, 

KATE 

Somehow it always frightens me ! 

HELEN 

It needn't ! What 's here is ours. 
[She removes the artificial flowers and turns the jug 
upside down. The jug was about one third full of 
money, old bills, one or two gold pieces, and silver. 
Kate takes five dollar bills from her little pocket- 
book and adds them to the pUe. 

KATE 

It 's the last of my school-teaching money until Sep- 
tember. 

HELEN 

You '11 get your pay for clerking in the drug store 
in another week. (She sits by table) How much 
did you put in just now? 

KATE 

Five dollars. 

HELEN 

Where 's the rest of it ? 
KATE (hesitates) 

I — I -vvas going to buy some goods for a dress ; we 
could make it ourselves, of course. Just a Httle or- 
gandy or something. 

HELEN 

You can get along, I guess, without it. 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 



KATE (wistfully/) 

I 'm ashamed to go to the pictures Saturday nights ; 

I haven't a thing ! 
HELEN (^firmly) 

Your blue dress will do well enough, put it all in. 
KATE (^reluctant) 

Yes, mother. 

[She takes a few more bills from her pocJcethook and 

adds them to the pile, 

HELEN 

I 'ni going to count it. 

KATE 

You '11 wear it all out before it 's any good to us ! 

HELEN (almost gaily. Starting to count money) 

I 'm like a miser I saw once in an opera, — I think 
it was "The Chimes of Normandy." He took me to 
the theatre in New York three or four times the first 
year we were married. You count the silver. 

KATE (piling up the coins) 

Some of the summer people from here, and even as 
far down as Shoreham, drive their automobiles up to 
New York almost every day! 

HELEN (cou/nting bills) 
I know. 

KATE 

And I 've never been there ! 

HELEN 

You will! 

KATE 

I never used to believe it, but we 've saved a lot. 
HELEN (looking over at her) 
How much? 



THE DETOUR [act i 



KATE 

Sixty dollars and fifty cents, counting the gold 
pieces. 

HELEN 

I Ve got six hundred and forty ; let 's see — that 's 
six hundred and forty and sixty dollars and fifty 

cents ? 

KATE {promptly) 

Seven hundred dollars and fifty cents. 

HELEN 

You 're quick at figures ! 
KATE {laughs) 
You 're not ! 

HELEN 

I get it mixed with receipts for gingerbread and 
when to give the calf that medicine your father left 
for it. {She starts to put the money hack into the 
jar) Seven hundred dollars and fifty cents ! Just 
my chicken and Qgg money and little odds and ends, 
and your pay for school teaching and for clerking at 
Nepper's, summers ! It 's almost like the loaves and 
fishes in the Bible ! 

KATE 

If you 'd only let me go with that ! 

HELEN 

No, not till we get a thousand. 
KATE {sadly) 

Three hundred dollars more! 

HELEN 

All but fifty cents. 
KATE {impatiently) 
What's fifty cents? 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 



HELEN 

If you 'd remember how we Ve had to scrimp for every 
penny, you wouldn't ask that. 

KATE 

How could I help remembering! Sometimes I hate 
that money ! It 's all the good times I 've never had, 
and all the things I Ve done without 1 

HELEN 

You '11 thank me for it some time. 

KATE 

Oh, yes! Only couldn't I just take this seven hun- 
dred and make it do ? 

HELEN 

No, I always said a thousand. It would be so awful 
if you had to come back 1 Two years it might take 
you, and he won't want you to go ; he would n't send 
you anything; good teachers cost money, and paint- 
ing things, and a studio ! We 've got to get a thou- 
sand ; we can save it in another year. 

KATE 

We never have saved that much. 

HELEN 

All the more reason why we should this time. 

KATE 

A year {She sighs) It 's so long to wait. 

HELEN 

I been here twenty. 

KATE 

But not knowing that pretty soon you were going! 
It was your home; you knew you were going to live 
here always. 



8 THE DETOUR [act i 

HELEN 

I 've told you times enough about that, how hard it 
was for me to settle down, 

KATE 

But, mother ! 7 ^m young ! 

HELEN 

So was I, once, and as far as that goes, I 've still got 
my teeth! I guess you can stand it another year. 

KATE 

You wouldn't go away from here if you could ! 

HELEN 

Yes, I would — quick ! Lookin' back, it seems like 
I was crazy I didn't go ! 

KATE {shocked) 
From father? 

HELEN {bitterly) 

From this ! {She looks about the room bitterly) 
It ain't enough ! Life ought to be bigger than — 
than this kitchen! It ought to be brighter than I 
been able to keep those old pots and pans ! I knew 
that, when I was your age, but somehow I forgot it 
for a while. I 'd always meant to get away and go 
to New York, or somewhere's where bein' bom an' 
bein' dead was n't the only things that ever happened. 
I 'd made my mind up to go, I 'd saved for it harder 
even than we 've been savin' ; one more term of winter 
school teachin' an' I figured I 'd have enough. 

KATE 

But you didn't go ! 

HELEN 

No, I took my money and bought my weddin' things. 
It was awful lonesome around here winters, and your 
father 's got a way of gettin' what he wants. 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 



KATE 

Mother ! You 're not sorry? 

HELEN 

I tell you it ain't enough. {She looks out the win- 
dow at the msta of truck gardens then half-turns 
toward Kate) At first, when we were married, I 
thought it was. Then it got to be just drudgery, 
just work, nothing else; every other part of me 
just shriveled up. (She walks slowly down to table) 
When I was a girl I used to watch married folks and 
I thought it was like that, but somehow I got to 
loving him before I knew it. I didn't have any talent 
like you have; I just had the hunger to do things. 

KATE 

But if we're wrong? If I haven't really a talent.'' 

HELEN 

No, there 's more justice than that in the world. 
You 've got what I didn't have. 

KATE 

We can 't be sure. 

HELEN 

You '11 be a great artist ! 

KATE 

Mother ! 

HELEN 

You will ! I 've known it ever since I got you that 
first box of water colors when you were a little girl. 
You 're more like his people in looks, but the rest of 
you is me I The thing I wanted to do you 're going 
to do! 

KATE 

Yes, mother! 



10 THE DETOUR [act i 

HELEN 

As soon as I saw you favored me in spirit, only 
you had the talent I didn't have, I knew just what 
we had to do, and I started over again saving for 
it. Your life isn't going to be like this, not even with 
a good man like your father! 

KATE 

He is good, but he 's hard, 

HELEN 

He 's had to be, to live ! 

KATE 

But he never thinks of anything but land, then more 
and more! 

HELEN 

There's no money in garden truck unless you have 
a lot of land. 

KATE 

But he keeps us so poor, buying it, and he 's always 
so worried about the taxes and the mortgages — and 
before he 's paid for the last piece he 's always buy- 
ing another. 

HELEN 

He loves it ! Just land ! 

KATE 

It 's merciless, the way he makes you work, and the 
way he works himself! 

HELEN 

It 's being a slave just to things, just cooking and 
cleaning and digging and planting I You sha'n't be 
that ! 

[She picks up the jug and puts the artificial flowers 
hack in it. 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 11 

KATE 

I 'm always worried about that money ; supposing 
something happened to it? 

HELEN 

Nobody 'd look in here. 

l^She crosses to shelf and puts the jug away, 

KATE 

They might! 

HELEN 

No, it 's safe ; it 's been over ten years I 've been sav- 
ing up and no one but us two knows about it. Your 
father don't notice things much. 

KATE 

Only if it 's good growing weather, or if it is n't ! Or 
if it's an acre of land he could buy ! Mother ! Was 
he always like that ? 

HELEN 

I guess so, only I didn't know it ! {She sighs and 
crosses and stands in the open door) I guess folks 
don't change much. (She stands for a moment look- 
ing out) He's comin', they've finished pickin' the 
string beans; weren't many of 'em, I guess. (She 
sighs again) No, folks don't change much ; he 's 
heavier than he was, and he don't hardly ever smile. 
He used to, he had a real nice smile. (She crosses 
slowly hack to Kate) Farmin's pretty hard on a 
man. 

KATE 

And on a woman too. 

HELEN 

Yes. 

[Sterne Hardy enters, a tall, strong farmer of forty- 

five, dressed for his work in the fields. 



12 THE DETOUR [act i 

STEVE 

We got the beans all picked. 

\^He crosses and draws a dipper of water from the 

sink. 

I 'm goin' to make up the truck load with the summer 

cabbages — what there is of them. (He drinks 

heartily) It 's hot out there? 

KATE 

I picked beans for an hour; then mother made me 
stop. 

STEVE 

Your mother 's spoiled you, but that 's all right. I 
don't want you working in the fields. 

HELEN 

I won't have it — you both know that ; that 's why I 
called her in ! I don't want her to neglect her painting. 
STEVE (pleasantly enough) 

I guess the world would get along without her paint- 
ing, all right. You're going to work at Nepper's 
to-morrow, ain't you? 

KATE 

Yes. I promised to go down this afternoon to learn 
the stock! It doesn't seem as though I could begin 
that all over again! 

STEVE 

How much is he giving you this year? 

KATE 

Fourteen dollars a week. 

STEVE 

That 's a lot for just standing behind a counter and 
waiting on folks, and it 's cash every Saturday night. 
I 'd feel rich if I had it after I pay my help and 
put aside for my taxes and interest. 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 13 

HELEN 

That 's because we 're land poor, the same as we Ve 
always been. 
STEVE {angrily) 

It 's because I haven't land enough to make truck 
farming a business like it ought to be, so as I could 
have help and teams and tools and do things right, 
and make money ! I need twice the land I 've got, and 
I'm going to have it. 

[He turns on the water at the smk and holds his 
hand under it; for the first time it is seen that he has 
hurt his hajid slightly and that there is blood on it, 

HELEN 

Your hand 's cut ! 

STEVE 

That 's what I came in for, to tie it up. I sprayed 
the cabbages only Tuesday and I don't want to get 
the poison in it. 

HELEN 

Let 's see. 

l^She takes his hand and looks at It, 

STEVE 

Knife slipped. I wouldn't notice it only for the 
poison. 

HELEN 

I '11 fix it before you touch the cabbages ; clean it 
good, I '11 get a rag. 

[He holds it under the water as she selects a hit of 
cloth from the table drawer, 

STEVE 

Tom Lane 's opening his garage to-day. 

KATE 

I know. 



14 THE DETOUR [act i 

STEVE 

No fool like a young fool! 
HELEN (crosses with her improvised bandage) 

Here! (He holds out his hand and she deftly hinds 
it up) I never saw so many cars as there are this 
year, and the summer business has hardly started. I 
shouldn't wonder if Tom made money. 

STEVE 

A man *s a farmer or he ain't ! 

HELEN 

There 's money in other things besides truck farm- 
ing. 

STEVE 

The twenty acres this side of his house is the best 
truck land on the north shore, if a man had it that 
knew how to lay it out. 
HELEN (finishes bandage) 
There! 

STEVE 

I must get them started at the cabbages. (He turns 
and stops vn front of the easel. Tlie picture on the 
easel is facing the window and he sees ordy the back 
of it) What's that? 

HELEN 

Kate 's painting. I made her bring it down ; I wanted 
you to look at it. 
KATE (nervously) 
No, mother! 

STEVE 

What do you want me to look at it for? 

HELEN 

She 's your daughter, too ; it don't seem right your 
not knowing what she 's doing. 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 15 

STEVE 

She paints good enough. I always thought. What 
of it.? 

HELEN 

She 's an artist ! I mean a real artist ! Two or three 
years' teachin' in New York will make her as good as 
any of 'em. 

l^He laughs a rather coarse and jarring lawgh. 
KATE (hurt) 

You see, mother! 

HELEN 

It 's your father that don't see, but he 's got to ; 
everybody has 1 I want you to look at this painting 
right now! 
\_She faces him angrily. 

STEVE 

What do I know about pictures ? 

HELEN 

You've got eyes! (She crosses to painting) It ^s 
just a painting she's made sitting in her window. 
It 's just what you see every day of your life. Look ! 
[She turns the painting to face him and the audience. 
A sinnple water color of a rural landscape, 

STEVE 

I see! 
KATE (fearful) 

1 don't think father cares about 

\_Steve bends forward and takes the painting from 

Helen. Kate stops. 
HELEN (greatly pleased) 

He does ! He likes it ! 
KATE (proudly) 

Father! 



16 THE DETOUR [act i 

HELEN 

You see something in it, don't you, Stephen? 

STEVE 

I see Tom Jones' twenty-acre field in it. Look how 
it lies to the sun there, sloping just enough! I'm 
going to have that land. I 've got to ! 
HELEN {anxiously) 
But the picture! 

STEVE 

Here! Take it! {He drops it on table) All Tom 
can think of is his new garage. He 'd sell, I know 
he would! {He crosses to door, stops and turns) 
Kate! 
KATE {quite crushed) 
Yes, father. 

STEVE 

I 've got to ask you to help me out with the money 
you earn from Nepper this summer ! 
HELEN {alarmed) 
Stephen ! 

STEVE 

She had her school money, I never touched it. It 

ain't a thing I want to do, but I 've got to! {He 

turns to Kate) You give your mother ten dollars 

every Saturday. I '11 be expectin' it. 

{^He exits. 
KATE {takes up picture) 

He didn't care about my painting — all he could see 

was the land ! 
HELEN {sadly) 

He '11 take your money ! Now we can't do it in a 

year! 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 17 

KATE {angrily) 

It is n't fair. What right has he to make me 

HELEN (interrupts her) 

Hush, dear ! I 'm going to find a way ! 

KATE 

You can't! 

HELEN 

I don't know. ... 

[^Tom Lane, a young fellow of about twenty-five, 
comes to the open door. Tom is in working clothes, 
a healthy, sturdy young animal, 

TOM 

Gan I come in, Mrs. Hardy? 

HELEN 

Of course you can, Tom. 
\^As he enters. 
KATE (smiles at him) 
How's the new garage? 

TOM 

Great ! My stock 's in — more 'n a thousand dol- 
lars' worth, and five hundred gallons of gas. 

KATE 

So you 've really started ! 
TOM (proudly) 

My sign 's out ; looks good if I did paint it myself. 

(He grins cheerfully at Kate) I don't pretend to 

be an artist. 
HELEN (proudly) 

Artists don't paint signs ! 

TOM 

I got my first job, too, fixing a car for a man named 
Lamont, Dana Lamont. (Kate looks up at the men- 



18 THE DETOUR [act i 

tion of the nam^y then looks closely at her paint- 
ing) He 's taken the Curtis bungalow for the sum- 
mer. 
HEI.EN (busy about kitchen) 

His wife 's been here twice for egg's and butter, — 
she 's a nice woman ; she made me show her all over 
the house yesterday. I never saw anybody make 
such a fuss as she did over mother's old curly maple 
bed and dresser. 

TOM 

Why.? 

HELEN 

She liked it, but she don't know a thing about fur- 
niture. When I took the covers off the red plush 
set in the parlor she hardly so much as looked at it ! 

TOM 

Well, they Ve got money, and they 're going to be 
good customers of mine. His car's in my place 
now. 

KATE 

I think it 's better than farming.^ 

TOM 

I know it is. I 'm worried about the roads being 
so bad just below ; that 's going to hurt. Some folks 
will go up the Middle Island Road, and I'll lose them, 
but I'm bound to make good money. 

HELEN 

That Mrs. Lamont is coming for a dozen more eggs 
to-day. She 's expecting company. {She takes a 
basket from shelf) I'll get them for her. 

KATE 

I'll do it. 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 19 

HELEN 

No, show Tom your painting. You 've been out 
enough in the hot sun. 
\^She eocits. 

TOM 

She 's good to you ! 

KATE 

Mother's wonderful! 

TOM 

She takes care of you just like you were some — 
some sort of a treasure! 
KATE (laughmgly) 
I Tinow ! 

TOM 

Too good for rough things — too good for rough 
people — and she thinks I 'm one of 'em — and I 
guess I am. 

KATE 

My painting 's finished. 

TOM 

Is it ? Let 's look. 
[Crosses and looks. 
KATE {anxiously) 

I tried so hard, and now I don't know. 

TOM 

Don't know what? 

KATE 

If it 's really good. 
TOM {after a long look) 
It 's great ! 

KATE 

Don't say so if you don't mean it ! 



20 THE DETOUR [act i 

TOM 

It 's great ! {He points with his linger) That 's 
the fence between your place and mine, and that 's 
my twenty-acre lot ! Any fool knows that 's a good 
picture ! 

KATE 

I think it 's good. I 'm almost sure of it ! I Ve 
worked so hard, Tom, without anybody much to 
help me — sometimes I ^m not sure, and that 's awful 

— it would break mother's heart, and mine, of 
course ! 

TOM 

It 's a nice way to spend your time, when you ain't 
workin*. Doing anything to-night? I might come 
over. 

KATE 

The movie theater *s opening to-night for the sum- 
mer. I sort of thought I might walk down there with 

— with one of the girls. 

[Helen reenters at hack with a dozen eggs m her 
basket. 
TOM {very reluctant) 

I — I '11 take you, if you want to go. 

KATE 

Don't you? 

TOM 

They bother me, movin' pictures, all about other 
folks' wives and murders and poor girls gettin' mar- 
ried to rich men, an' young fellers makin' a million 
dollars in a couple of days, when everybody knows 
they can't. It wastes your time, and I don't 
know as it *s right, puttin' ideas into peoples' 
heads. 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 21 

HELEN 

What would you put there? 

TOM 

It ^s hard enough to keep on your job without think- 
ing about things. 

KATB 

But you can't just work! 

TOM 

Why? 

KATE 

I think the pictures are fun, and they 're a change 
from reading. 

TOM 

Book reading? Books are just as bad! Seems 
like every liar took to writin' books ! I gave 'em all 
up but one. 

KATE 

What one? 
HELEN {drily) 

His account book. 
TOM {grins at her) 

That's right. 

HELEN 

Maybe it ain't right, but it 's true, 

TOM 

Laugh, all you please, and of course I know you 're 
laugliing. I ain't mean, anyhow, I ain't dog mean 
— but what I want is money. When I get enough 
of that I guess folks will forgive me if I don't know 
Charlie Chaplin from Douglas Fairbanks, an' even 
if I ain't a fancy dancer. 
[He steps toward door. 



22 THE DETOUR [act i 

HELEN 

There 's more folks know how to save money than 
there is that know how to spend it. 

TOM 

By the time a feller learns enough to save it he 's 

got too much sense to spend it. I 'm going back to 

the garage and sit and wait for trade. That 's got 

the pictures beat, I guess ! 

\^He crosses stage, Kate looks after Mm a little 

wistfully, 

KATE 

Good-by, Tom. 

TOM 

See you later. 
[He exits, 

KATE 

It 's funny — in some ways he is so like father, and 
living right next door to us. 

HELEN 

Maybe it 's cat chin'. {She crosses to Kate and put- 
ting her hand on Kate's shoulder she looks down at 
her gravely) Kate.'^ 

KATE 

Yes, mother. 

HELEN 

He 's been around a lot lately! 

KATE 

Yes. 

HELEN 

You 're not thinkin' of him? {Kate drops her eyes, 
Helen looks frightened) Kate! If you was to do 
that, what 's the good of all we 've done "^ 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 23 

KATE 

Oh, I wouldn't. Not — not the way you mean — 

only — only I think he likes me — and — and 

[SJi^ stops, 

HELEN 

And he 's the best you know. 

KATE 

Yes, he 's that. 

HELEN 

But not the best you Ve going to know ! We think 
that thousand dollars it will take us most ten years 
to save is a lot of money? 

KATE 

I should say so ! 

HELEN 

In New York it is n't anything ! 
KATE (worried) 
But . 

HELEN 

Don't be silly ! You 've got a talent ! They '11 make 
room for you! 

KATE 

I hope so. 

HELEN 

They will — if you work hard — and you must ! If 

you was to fail, I 'd feel somehow as if all my life 

had been just wasted 1 
KATE {earnestly) 

I '11 work. 
HELEN (tenderly) 

I know you will. 
KATE (touched) 

You 're the one who ought to go, mother! 



24 THE DETOUR [act i 

HELEN 

I 'm going, the very best way — the part of me 
that 's in you is going — what I was once — what I 
wanted to be — I gave all that to you. Wlien they 
all come crowding around you some day, saying 
you 're a great artist, men and women, different 
from the kind we know, you '11 be proud, but you 
won't be so proud as I '11 be ! 

[Dana Lamont, a New York artist, comes to the 
door, Lamont, although an artist, is not at all of 
the " artistic type "; he is just a cultivated, well- 
mannered man of middle age, 

DANA 

I beg your pardon, but I was to meet my wife here, 
Mrs. Lamont. 

HELEN 

She was coming for some eggs, but I haven't seen 
her. Come in and wait, won't you.'* 
DANA {enters) 

Thank you. She asked me to meet her here, 

HELEN 

This is my daughter, Mr. Lamont. 

DANA 

Good morning. Miss — Hardy — is n't it.'* 

KATE 

Yes, sir. 

HELEN 

Won't you sit down.'* 
[Offers chair, 

DANA 

Thanks — no — I am going to leave a message for 
my wife, if you don't mind. Please say that I have 
walked on to the new garage to see what is being 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 25 

done about my car. If the man here can't fix it, 
I shall have to arrange to have it towed to Hunting- 
ton. 

HELEN 

Tom Lane will fix it! 

DANA 

Really — is he a good mechanic ? 

HELEN 

He 's a good business man. 

KATE 

He 's a good mechanic, too, mother ! 

HELEN 

I guess so ; anyhow he won't let it go to Hunting- 
ton. 

DANA 

Would you mind asking Mrs. Lamont to walk along 
and meet me on the road.'' 

HELEN 

I '11 tell her if she comes. 

DANA r 

She '11 come! Thank you very much. {Ke turns to 
doorway) I envy you the view from your front 
windows, Mrs. Hardy ; it 's quite unusual. 

HELEN 

That depends on how long you 've been looking at it. 

DANA 

I think I could enjoy looking at it forever. 

HELEN 

I haven't tried that yet, but I was born right on 
the other side of the road. 

DANA 

And you are tired of it, of course. Just as my eyes 
have grown tired of bricks and mortar, of curb- 



26 THE DETOUR [act i 

stones and asphalt! Beauty, after all, is in con- 
trasts. 

HELEN 

We don't raise 'em around here. 

DANA 

You have managed to keep a twinkle in your eyes, 
in spite of monotony — so you 're all right ! Good 
afternoon ! Good afternoon, Miss Hardy. 
[Kate hows shyly and he exits, 
HELEN (looking after him) 

That 's what I meant, a gentleman I That ^s the* 
kind of men you 're going to know ! 

KATE 

Dana Lamont I Don't you know who he is ? Wait ! 
(She selects a magazine from the small table and 
turns the pages until she finds the page, then crosses 
to Helen) Look! I knew as soon as Tom spoke 
his name. 
HELEN {awed) 

He painted that! (She looks at the reproduction 
in the magazine with something almost like rever- 
ence) Dana Lamont! Kate! Why didn't you 
show him the picture! 
\_She points to Kate^s picture, 

KATE 

Mother ! I wouldn't have dared ! 
HELEN {firmly) 
I wish I 'd known ! 

KATE 

Mother ! 

HELEN 

That 's the way to learn, from the real big ones ; 
from folks that know! 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 27 

KATE 

But I wouldn't have any right to bother a man 
like Dana Lamont ! 

HELEN 

Why! I showed his wife how to bake com bread 
yesterday. 

KATE 

That 's different. 

HELEN 

It ain't! I know how to bake and he knows how 

to paint. Folks that know ain't mean ; it 's only 

fools. 

\_Dora Lamont comes to door. Dora is a pretty and 

beautifully dressed woman with a frank, jolly nature, 

quite unaffected and kimdly. 

DORA 

Was that my husband I saw disappearing down the 
road? 

HELEN 

Yes, it was. Come in, Mrs. Lamont. (Dora enters) 
This is my daughter. 

DORA 

How do you do! 
KATE (shyly) 

I 'm pleased to meet you. 
HELEN (shows magazine) 

We were just looking at this. 
DORA (looks) 

" The Harvest." Is n't it lovely ! 
HELEN (gravely) 

Yes — lovely ! (She puts maga^vne on table) She 

paints too! 

\^She looks proudly at Kate. 



28 THE DETOUR [act i 

DORA 

Really — that 's splendid ! 

KATE 

Please, mother! 
HELEN (gets basket) 

Here 's your eggs — Mr. Lamont said he was going 
to the garage and you was to meet him on the road. 

DORA 

Thank you, but these are only eggs — where is my 
butter.? 

HELEN 

You got a pound yesterday! 

DORA 

But I want it every day! 

HELEN 

Oh — well, butter won't hurt you ! Get a pound of 
butter from the spring house, Kate. 

KATE 

Yes, mother. (She crosses and gets a plate) I 
won't be a minute. 
\_She exits, 

DORA 

She 's pretty ! 

HELEN 

She 's more than that — I want to show you some- 
thing — that 's why I sent her. (She crosses and 
turns Kate^s painting) Look i 
[Dora looks, 

DORA 

Why, it 's really very nice ! 

HELEN 

Yes, 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 29 

DORA 

You must be proud of her ! 

HELEN 

Yes. 

DORA (looking at picture) 

What a lovely country it is about here. The slope 
of that liill side is exquisite! 

HELEN 

That 's what my husband says, but he was thinking 
of the drainage. 
DORA (laughs) 

That 's like a husband ; not mine, of course, but ar- 
tists are different. 

HELEN 

Yes — you think it 's good, that picture ; I mean, 
really good? 

DORA 

I am sure it is! 

HELEN (anocioudy) 

Not for a girl. I don't mean — I mean for any- 
body — for an artist ? 

DORA (hesitates) 
Why 

HELEN 

She 's going to New York to study, we Ve been plan- 
ning it all her life. All the help she ^s had was a 
Miss Crosby at Northport. You think she 's got 
talent — I mean real talent ? 

DORA 

My husband says no one has a right to say that un- 
less it 's really so, and of course I 'm not a judge. 

HELEN 

He is. 



30 THE DETOUR [act i 

DORA 

Yes. 

HELEN 

Would he look at it if you was to ask him? 

DORA 

Of course he would. 

HELEN 

And tell her where to go when she gets to New York, 
— who the best teachers are? 

DORA 

I am sure he would ; I '11 bring him here myself. 

HELEN 

It 's awful to ask favors, but you do sometimes, for 
people you love enough! 

DORA 

Of course you do, and it is n't a favor. My hus- 
band says one proof of a real artist is his willing- 
ness to help another. 

HELEN 

I knew that. 
DORA (laughs) 

You know a lot, don't you? 

HELEN 

Yes and no — mostly no. 

[Kate enters with Ben Glenny, a tall, lank, serious- 
lookmg fellow who is in his shirt sleeves. In one 
hand he has a hammer and m the other a pine hoard 
on which ^ in black letter s, is painted the word DE- 
TOUR. 

[Kate comes forward with the plate of butter in her 
hand, Ben Glenny stops in the doorway. 

KATE 

Here 's Mr. Glenny, he wants to borrow a nail. 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 31 

BEN 

Got to put this up. (Holds up the sign) Going to 
close the road and send folks around Smithtown way. 
I thought I had nails with me, but I ain't. 
KATE (at drawer of table) 
This big enough? 
\_She holds up nail, 

BEN 

About right. 

KATE 

Here. (She brings him four or five nails) Sure 
they 're enough .'' 

BEN 

Plenty, thanks ; the men are closing the road now 
and I ought to get this up quick. 
\_He exits. Helen rolls the butter up in a clean cloth 
and puts it in the basket with the eggs, 

HELEN 

The road 's pretty bad ; it *s a good thing they 're 
fixing it. Detour, that 's a new word ; seems we 're 
borrowing lots of things from France. It ain't a 
bad word — Detour — only I don't know as I get 
the meaning of it exactly. 

KATE 

It means a turning. 

DORA 

Another way around, to get to the same place. 

HELEN 

Oh, well, so long as a person gets where they want 
to go, I guess a detour don't matter much. 
DORA (lightly) 

Unless it takes you where you don^t want to go. 



32 THE DETOUR [act i 

(Sh^ takes out her pocketbook) How much do I 
owe you? 

HELEN 

Sixty cents for the butter, and eighty-five for the 
eggs, a dollar and — and — 

KATE 

Forty-five. 
HELEN (to Kate) 

When you go I '11 get a slate. 
[Dora puts the money on the table, 

DORA 

And thank you very much ! Oh ! I knew I was for- 
getting something. I was in Huntington yesterday 
and I spoke to a dealer there — a rather dreadful 
person named Weinstein — about that wonderful old 
curly maple of yours. 

HELEN 

What about it? 

DORA 

All about it. He is going to drive over here very 
soon. 

HELEN 

What for? 

DORA 

To buy it, of course. 

HELEN 

Buy it ? It 's a real good bed, and the bureau 's all 
right if you 're patient when the drawers stick. I 
wouldn't be able to get along without 'em. 

DORA 

Oh — I thought you would be glad of the chance of 
disposing of them. 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 33 

HELEN 

No, I goiess not. They were mother's, you see. I 
don't think I 'd like other folks having them. 

DORA 

Just tell him so then. I thought you cared more 
for your parlor furniture. 

HELEN 

'I do ; nobody can help liking fine things like my par- 
lor set better than old truck, but being mother's 
makes a difference. 

DORA 

Of course it does. 
\^She crosses to door, 

HELEN 

And you won't forget about bringing your husband 
to look at the painting? 
KATE (afraid) 
Oh, no! 

DORA 

I '11 bring him in the very first time we pass this way. 

[^Slie exits 
HELEN (follows her to door) 

I 'U be a lot obliged. 
DORA (outside) 

Not a bit, good afternoon. 
HELEN (in doorway) 

Good afternoon. 

[She goes to shelf and drops the money in the old 

jar^ then crosses to where Kate stands looking down 

at her painting. Helen puts her arm about her and 

they stand together looking at it. 

KATE 

It frightens me to have him see it! 



34 THE DETOUR [act i 

HELEN 

Because he knows? 

KATE 

Yes. 

HELEN" 

That 's why I want him to. 

KATE 

He may just see the faults, not all it 's meant to us ! 

HELEN 

It 's all there ! Sometimes it seems like a part of 
it was mine. 

KATE 

Of course it is i 

HELEN 

The hope that was in me, the wanting to see some- 
thing different to do something bigger ! 
KATE {aTixiously) 

How can he see all that.f^ 

HELEN 

It 's there ! I see it ! 

[Tom Lane enters at hack, h/j is angry and shocked. 

He shuts door hehmd hirni, 

TOM 

It 's a joke on me, at least if you can call it a joke! 
They 've closed the road ! 

HELEN 

So Ben Glenny was sayin*. 

TOM 

A detour out toward Smithtown. 

HELEN 

Yes. 

TOM 

And blocked at the other end five miles up! 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 35 

HELEN 

The road needed it bad enough ; it 's sort of a bother, 

but why should you 

KATE (breaks m) 

Tom! Your garage! 
[She is dismayed, 

TOM 

Yes — they got me shut up like I had the smallpox ! 
HELEN (shocked) 

I 'm stupid ! I didn't think ! 

TOM 

I guess I 'm the stupid one ! Anybody that buys 
gas of me now would have to come for it in an air- 
ship. 

HELEN 

I 'm sorry. 

KATE 

It 's a shame ? 
TOM (bitterly) 

I didn't plant much more than half a crop, countin' 
on this garage! Thought I was too smart to be 
a farmer! 

KATE 

It wasn't your fault ! It was a good idea ! 

TOM 

That 's it — damn ideas ! 

[^He crosses iip and looks out mndom, 

HELEN 

Swearin' won*t help! 

KATE 

Don't, mother. 

HELEN 

It 's hard ; nobody can deny that, Tom, especially 



36 THE DETOUR [act i 

when you was countin' on it so much. (She crosses 

toward hall door at left) Don't go down to the 

Port without seeing me, Kate ; I 've got a couple of 

errands. 

[She exits. Kate crosses up to Tom mho stands with 

back toward her. 

KATE 

You 'd put more money into it than you could af- 
ford? 
TOM (without turning) 
Yes. 

KATE 

What will you do? 

TOM 

Wliat can I do? (He turns on her) All the cash 
I had, and I owe most a thousand that 's past due. 
I tried to save money by doin' the concrete work 
myself, and I lost a month; my stock's been here 
five weeks and I had it on tliirty-day notes. They 've 
been waitin' for me to open ; nobody 's going to 
wait now! 

KATE 

You '11 find a way out of it ! 

TOM 

No, I 'm licked ! 

KATE 

I know better f 

TOM 

Oh, I 'm no milksop, but I can be licked. I was half 
licked even before tliis, by you ! 

KATE 

How silly! 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 37 

TOM 

I was — I wasn't gettin' anywhere with you, you 
and your mother planning something together all 
the time — figuring on something that I didn't know 
about, that I don't suppose I 'd have known about 
if you 'd told me ! 

KATE 

^ust what we 've always been planning — that I 
should go. away ! 

TOM 

I wasn't going to let you go ! Now I can't help my- 
self! 

KATE 

I hate to say it, but you couldn't have helped it, 

anyway. 

\_There is a knock on the outside door, 

TOM 

You don't mean that. 
[The knock is repeated, 

KATE 

There's some one at the door! '^ 

TOM 

You don't mean that. 

[Kate turns and crosses and opens door. Wevnstein, 
a Jew, a trader in furniture, is in the doorway. He 
is an elderly, benevolent fellow, not at all grotesque 
hut with much of the inherited instinct of the buyer. 
He is bland and smiling and extremely gentle in 
his manner; he speaks with a trace of dialect. 

WEINSTEIN 

Mrs. Hardy, she lif here.'^ 

KATE 

Yes. 



38 THE DETOUR [act i 

WEINSTEIN 

I am Weinstein. I liaf ^ store by Huntington. 
There is some curly maple furniture ; I come to see it. 

KATE 

Grandmother's curly maple ! Mrs. Lamont sent you ! 

WEINSTEIN 

She said you haf some old furniture; maybe it ain't 
SO good but I buy effery thing. 

KATE 

I am almost sure mother won't sell it. 

WEINSTEIN 

Maybe I gif j^ou something pretty good ! 

KATE 

Oh, I '11 ask her, but I don't think it 's any use. 
Come in. 

[Weinstein enters, smUing and friendly, h owing po- 
litely to Tom, who is still i/n a bad temper. 

WEINSTEIN 

Thank you. Good day, sir. 
KATE (who has crossed to door at left and calls) 
Mother! Mother! 

HELEN (out left) 

Yes. 

KATE 

Come here a minute. 
HELEN (outside) 
All right. 

[Weinstein has been looking at tJie furniture with 
the quick eye of an expert. He puts his hand on 
the back of a small mahogany rocking chair. 

WEINSTEIN 

That 's nice. 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 39 

KATE 

That was Grandma's too. 

WEINSTEIN 

I buy effery thing. 
[Helen enters. 

HELEN 

What is it? 
WEiNSTEiN (bowi/ng) 
Good day, lady! 

KATE 

It 's the man Mrs. Lamont spoke about ; he wants 
to look at Grandma's furniture. 

WEINSTEIN 

Curly maple bed it was, and a dresser. 

HELEN 

It 's all a mistake. I 'm sorry you came so far. I 
don't want to sell it. 

KATE 

I told him that. 

WEINSTEIN 

I might look at it.*^ 

HELEN 

I don't see what good that would do, but I don't 
mind if you want to. 

WEINSTEIN 

If it 's good curly maple I like to buy it ; if I can't 
buy it, I like to look at it anyhow. 

HELEN 

Well, you can't buy it, and I don't know how good 
it is, I sort of value it for the sentiment. 

WEINSTEIN 

I buy effery thing ! Maybe we look at it now ? 



40 THE DETOUR [act i 

HELEN 

Lookin' at it won't hurt it ; it 's right upstairs. 
\_Exit to hall, Helen and Weinstein, Tom crosses 
down to Kate. 

TOM 

You said I couldn't have helped your going away, 
even if I 'd made good money, like I thought I 
would ? 

KATE 

No. I am going to New York. 

TOM ' 

When? 

KATE 

When I can. Not for a long time, but I 'm going ! 

TOM 

This summer? 

KATE 

Not till we can get the money. I don't know when, 
but it doesn't matter how long it is — I'm going ! 

TOM 

Do you want to go? 

KATE 

Of course I do. 

TOM 

I don't know — you don't tell me much — but if it 
wasn't for her you wouldn't go. 

KATE 

If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here at all ! 

TOM 

She wants you to go! 

KATE 

Because she knows what living in a place like this 
all your life is like! 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 41 

TOM 

How does she? She knows what it was like for her; 
she don't know what it will be like for you ! 

KATE 

It 's the same thing. 

TOM 

She 's stronger than you, she likes fighting better ! 
You 'd be happy here, or anywhere ; if you 'd let 
yourself care about some one — about me ! 

KATE 

I can't, Tom! No! 

\_She steps away from him nervously^ he follows. 

TOM 

You could! 
KATE {desperately) 

No — No I don't even want to ! 

TOM 

I 'm in trouble, I 'm going to lose a lot of money — 
maybe all I 've got — if it wasn't for that I 
wouldn't let you go — I 'd keep you — in spite 
of her! 

KATE 

Don't, Tom ! Mother '11 hear you ! 
\^She steps away from him as Helen and Wemstein 
enter. 
HELEN {as she enters) 

I don't care ! Somehow it wouldn't seem right ! 

WEINSTEIN 

It 's a good offer ! 

HELEN 

Oh, yes, but I couldn't! That set was mother's 
wedding present ! It 's fifty years old ! It seems as 
if it was one of the first things I can remember! 



42 THE DETOUR [act i 

Mostly when I think of her, it 's the way she looked 
lying there so long. 

WEINSTEIN 

Veil, I gif you a new bed for it that nobody effer 
died on. 

HELEN 

No. 

WEINSTEIN 

And maybe a hundred dollars! 

HELEN 

I couldn't. 

WEIN STEIN 

Even a hundred and fifty! 

HELEN 

No, I won't. I don't care what you offer! I 
wouldn't sell it for- — (She stops and turns on him 
suddenly) You wouldn't give me three hundred dol- 
lars for it, would you! 
WEiNSTEiN (steps httch m alarm) 
Three hundred dollars ! 

HELEN 

I 'm glad of it ! I 'd been sorry, I know. 

WEINSTEIN 

A hundred and seventy-fife. 

HELEN 

No. 

WEINSTEIN 

Veil, it 's too bad. (He crosses hut stops in the 
door and turns) EfFen two hundred.'' 

HELEN 

No. 

WEINSTEIN 

Veil (He hesitates) Good-by! 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 43 

HELEN 

Good-by. {He exits, shutting the outside door) 
That shows you what a person will do for money! 
I 'd have been ashamed always ! 
TOM (faces her angrily) 

Kate was tellin' me that she 's going to New York 
as soon as she can. 

HELEN 

Yes, she is. 
TOM {bitterly) 

And I was tellin' her that if it wasn't for you she 
wouldn't ever go. 

HELEN 

Maybe, but you see there is me ! 

TOM 

And there 's me! She can't go till she gets the 
money, and money 's scarce around here ! 

HELEN 

Yes. 

TOM 

Maybe I '11 have something to say before that time 
comes ! 

HELEN 

Say it now? 

TOM 

I can't ! You know that ! 

HELEN 

Now 's the time! You want to go, don't you, Kate.'* 

KATE 

I told him I did. 

TOM 

I got a year anyhow! I won't let her go! 
[There is a knock on door. 



44. THE DETOUR [act i 

HELEN 

Wait a minute. {She crosses and opens door, Wein- 
stein is in doorway with Jake, his helper, who has 
several old quilts in his arms, Helen looks at him 
coldly. What do you want now? 

WEINSTEIN 

The curly maple. 

HELEN 

I thought you didn't want to pay me three hundred 
dollars for it? 

WEINSTEIN 

I don't, but I got to. Come in, Jake. 
[He enters, 

JAKE 

All right, popper. 

[Jake enters — a Jemsh boy with a comic likeness 

to Weinstein, 
HELEN (looking at Tom) 

You 've got a year anyway, you said, Tom ! 
WEINSTEIN (counting money from pocketbook on table) 

Three hundred dollars ! 

KATE 

You 're not going to sell it ! 

HELEN 

Yes I am ! I '11 move your bed into my room. 

There 's that old cot you can sleep on to-night 

You 're going to New York to-morrow ! 

KATE 

To-morrow ! 

[Helen turns to Weinstein, 

HELEN 

Where's the money! (She takes it from Weinstein 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 45 

and counts) Yes. i^She turns to Kate) Take him 
upstairs. 

KATE 

Without father's knowing? 

HELEN 

The bed and the dresser! Go along! 

KATE 

Yes, mother. 

\_She crosses to door at left, Weinstein follows. 

WEINSTEIN 

Come along, Jakie. 

JAKE 

Yes, Popper ! 

[Jake, Kate, Weinstem exit door left 
TOM (to Helen) 

You know I was right! You knew I could stop 
her if I only had a chance ! That 's why you took 
that money! 

HELEN 

No, I didn't know it. I don't think you could. 

TOM 

But you weren't sure. 

HELEN 

No! 

TOM 

How do you know she '11 be happier there than 
she 'd be here with me.'* 

HELEN 

I don't know much about there, Tom. But I know 
a lot about here, so she's going! 

TOM 

Nobody 's got a right to spoil another person's life ! 



46 THE DETOUR [act i 

HELEN 

That 's why I ain't going to let anybod}^ spoil 
hers ! You say you could stop her going if you had 
another year. Perhaps you could — you live next 
door, you see her every day and there ^s hardly any- 
body else — and you're young, and she's young! 
Don't I know ! Haven't I been through it all ! 
Youth 's all she 's got that 's fine, and you want to 
take it for yourself ! You want to make her stay 
here and do ugly things, dirty things with her hands, 
all day long — and I want her to go where she can 
be big, and free — and use her hands just to make 
tilings that 's beautiful. 
[Stephen Hardy enters from outside. 

STEVE 

Hardly enough cabbages to pay for pulling. I 
scarcely made up a truck load between 'em and the 
beans. 

TOM 

You saw what they 've done to the road, didn't you? 

STEVE 

Yes — I guess it won't help you much with your 
new garage business. I never did believe in it; a 
man 's a farmer or he ain't ! 

TOM 

It 's deeper than that. A man 's a fool or he ain't. 
I guess it 's easy enough to tell about me ! 
[Weinstein^s voice is heard out left, 
WEiNSTEiN (outside) 

Easy now! Hold your end vay up! (At the sound 
Steve turns and looks at door in amazement. Wein- 
stein's voice goes on) Hold your end vay up, 
Jakey ! 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 47 

JAKEY (outside) 
All right, Popper. 

STEVE 

Who's that? 

HELEN 

It 's the man from Huntington ; he buys furniture. 
I sold him a couple of things. 

[Kate enters and holds the door open. She is fol- 
lowed by Weinstein and Jake, who carry the head- 
board of a xi)ooden bed covered by one of their old 
quilts, 

KATE 

Be careful of the door! 

WEINSTEIN 

Careful, Jakie! 

JAKE 

All right. Popper. 

[As they start to cross the stage, Stephen steps for- 
ward and speaks. 

STEVE 

What you got there? 

WEINSTEIN 

Vot? 

[He is carrying his end of the bed in such a way as 
to practically place himself behind the bed so that 
he canH see Stephen. 
STEVE {repeats sternly) 
What you got there? 

WEINSTEIN 

Vot? 

[He lowers his end suddenly, 

JAKE 

Look out, Popper! 



48 THE DETOUR [act i 

\^He catches it. 
WEiNSTEiN (sees Stephen) 

Excuse me. I didn't see you ! 
STEVE (to Helen) 

What 'd you sell this man? 

HELEN 

The bed and the dresser from our room. 

STEVE 

Have you gone crazy! 

HELEN 

No. 
STEVE (to Weinstein) 
Take it upstairs again. 

WEINSTEIN 

I bought them of the lady ! 

STEVE 

You '11 get your money back ; do as I tell you. 

WEINSTEIN 

But ■ 

HELEN 

I sold 'em to him, Stephen! 

STEVE 

Put it back! This is my house! 

HELEN 

'T was mother's and she gave it to me, and I 've 
sold it ! 
STEVE (to Weinstein) 

I wouldn't advise you to make any trouble here, 
not with me ! I tell you to take that thing upstairs ! 

WEINSTEIN 

It was a fair bargain. 
STEVE (bitterly) 

Fair! What does your kind know about fairness? 



ACT i] THE DETOUR 49 

You come here when you see there 's no man around 
and start to strip my house, leave me without a bed 
to sleep in! We've had talk enough. {He steps 
forward angrily) You'd better put it back! 

HELEN 

I 'm going to move Kate's bed in our room ; and 
he 's a fool if he puts it back, because it 's his and 
I 'm going to keep what I got. 

STEVE 

I suppose you want to be robbed ! That set 's worth 
money ! Nevin's wife sold an old bed and dresser 
no better n' that a while ago for almost a hundred 
dollars. 

HELEN 

I know, she was always flighty. (She holds up her 
roll of bills) I sold mine for three hundred. 
STEVE (in awe) 
Three — hundred ! 

HELEN 

Dollars ! 

STEVE 

Three hundred! 
WEiNSTEiN (looking at him anxiousl'if) 
Veil? 

HELEN 

Go on. 

[She nods toward the door. Jake and Weinstein 
eocit with the bed, 

CURTAIN 



ACT II 

The Hardifs side porch a few hours later. The 
porch, which is not raised above the stage level, taJces 
up the greater part of the stage. Over this porch is 
a pagoda-like roof above which the second-story win- 
dows of the house are shown. A door and a window at 
right of the door open onto the kitchen. On the porch 
are two chairs, a small table, and a bench. At left of 
porch a fence makes a turning, as though here was a 
sharp curve in the highway; a tree is near by, and just 
inside of this fence and on this tree the detour sign, 
A gate just above this opens into the back yard. In 
this scene everything must be sacrificed to the acting 
space which is the porch itself. 

At rise of curtain, Stephen Hardy, a pipe in his 
mouth, sits alone on the porch, he is thoughtful and 
silent, he just sits slowly puffing at his pipe. In a mo- 
ment Tom Lane enters in the road at back, walking 
slowly. He enters the yard through the gate and steps 
onto porch. Steve glances at him without moving. 

STEVE 

Oh. 

[Tom sits, takes out his pipe and fills it but makes 

no answer and hunts in his pocket for a match. 

TOM 

Light? 

[Steve throws him a box of matches, Tom lights his 

pipe and tosses them back; both smoke in silence. 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 51 

STEVE 

Ought to cut that field of yours down by this fence 
— it '11 spoil on you. 

TOM 

Yes. (For a moment they puff away) Steve — I'm 
in a hell of a mess! 

STEVE 

Yes.? 

TOM 

Yes! 

STEVE 

Talkin' won't help it. (There is a pause) You don't 
half farm your place lately ; seems like you had 
something better to do. Maybe you got too much 
land. I don't know but I 'd like to own that twenty 
acres of yours — joinin' onto mine. 

TOM 

You can. 

STEVE 

You mean that.f^ 

TOM 

Yes, you 've always thought you could do more 'n I 
could with it. 

STEVE 

I 'd lay it out different. I 've had my eye on it ever 
since I was a boy. 

TOM 

I always thought you had. Well ... if I 've got 
to sell, I 'd rather it would be yours than any- 
body's. 

STEVE 

All that bothers me is cash. 



52 THE DETOUR [act n 

TOM (^alarmed) 
I need cash bad. 

STEVE 

What 's the twenty acres worth? 

TOM 

Six thousand. 

STEVE 

Five 's enough, two-fifty an acre. 

TOM 

It 's time more 'n it 's price with me. You want that 
land? 
STEVE (^earnestly) 
Yes — I do! 

TOM 

You can have it for five thousand. 

STEVE 

It 's the cash bothers me ! 

TOM 

I telephoned the jobber to New York just now an' 
I asked him for an extension on my note; he 
wouldn't do anything. I offered him his stock back 
and he laughed at me ! He 's going to get out an 
attachment, if he ain't alreadv. 

STEVE 

That's bad! 

TOM 

What *s the most cash you could raise for me to- 
day? 

STEVE 

Five hundred. 

TOM 

It wouldn't help! {He sits back and draws on his 
pipe) My pipe 's out ! 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 53 

STEVE {tosses him box of matches) 

Here! (Tom relights pipe) I '^d pay another five 
hundred in four weeks ; my potatoes will fetch that. 

TOM 

It 's to-day I want it. I '11 sell you my twenty acres 
for five thousand — that 's fifteen hundred cash 
above what it 's mortgaged for, and you can let the 
mortgage stand. 

STEVE 

Five hundred is every cent I 've got in the bank, an' 
I was figuring that for something else. 

TOM 

Then we can't trade. 

\_For a moment they both smohe in silence, 

STEVE 

Gimme back my matches ! (Tom tosses them to him 
and he puts them in his pocket) Gimme two days to 
raise this money? 

TOM 

Two hours. 

STEVE 

I '11 try ! (He rises from his chair) I only got one 
chance ; wait till I telephone. 

\_He exits into kitchen^ Tom sits in thought, Helenas 
face is seen for a moment as she glances out of mn^ 
dow from the kitchen. A moment later she comes to 
the open doorway; she has evidently been baking, as 
her arms are covered with flour, and as she speaks to 
Tom, she wipes them on her apron. 

HELEN 

What 's he calling Ben Glenny for on the telephone? 

TOM 

He didn't say. 



64 THE DETOUR [act ii 

l^Helen opens the screen door and steps out on 
porch, 

HELEN 

Nothin 's upsets me more *n his law business with Ben 
Glemiy ! Ben 's all right as a man, but a body can't 
seem to think of him like he was human. To me he 
always seems sort of a walking calamity ! 

TOM 

Ben ain't got no law business 1 He never was ad- 
mitted to the bar ! 

HELEN 

He 's County Clerk. Notary Public and most every- 
thing, especially Tax Collector. Last thne he was 
here I told him as long as he was Tax Collector I 
didn't know but what it would be more convenient 
if I was to arrange to board him. 

TOM 

That 's like the sort of things you Ve always sayin' ! 
Things you don't mean, and you know folks know 
you don't mean. You say 'em just because they seem 
kind of funny to you. 

HELEN 

I s'pose so 

TOM 

It 's sort of an aggravatin' habit. 

HELEN 

So he *s told me, often ! 

TOM 

Excuse me for speakin' of it. 

HELEN 

Oh, I don't mind! It 's just my way of being im- 
polite, like you smokin' your pipe on my porch with- 
out askin' me if you could. 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 55 

TOM 

Oh! 

{^He knocks the ashes out of his pipe hastHy and 

drops it in his pocket, 

HELEN 

You didn't have to stop. I ain't goin' to. 

TOM 

I guess you couldn't. 

HELEN 

I guess not — I get so tired of sayin' nothin' but 
just exactly what 's so, and listen to folks that don't 
ever mean the least mite more 'n they say, or the 
least mite less ! What 's the use of your imagina- 
tion! 

TOM 

Mine? I ain't got any, have I? 

HELEN 

Oh, I guess so — but it 's like a muscle ; it gets awful 
puny if you don't use it. 

TOM 

I 'd rather have one real dollar than dream I was 
a millionaire! 

HELEN 

I s'pose so — I 'd rather have one real dream than 
he a millionaire ! 

TOM 

Well, it 's all right so long as we 're both satisfied. 
Where's Kate? 

HELEN 

At the Port, buying some things. 

TOM 

Did you mean what you said a while ago that she 

was goin' to New York to-morrow. 



56 THE DETOUR [act n 

HELEN 

No. 

TOM 

Just another dream? 

HELEN 

She ^s goin' to-night. 

TOM 

To-night ! When did you settle on that ? 

HELEN 

Just a minute ago — (She looks at him) I hap- 
pened to tliink of something that frightened me. 

TOM 

If I was her father I wouldn't let her go. 

HELEN 

I believe you ; you Ve a lot like Steve 

TOM 

I hope so, Steve Hardy 's a sensible man, and an 
honest man! 

HELEN 

And a good man. Never was wild in his life, an' he 's 
truthful, and he never drank or gambled. 

TOM 

I know. 

HELEN 

And you never did. 

TOM 

Never wanted to. 

HELEN 

That 's a comfort. 

TOM 

A lot of good it does me! You don't want her to 
marry me. 



ACT n] THE DETOUR 57 

HELEN 

No. 

TOM 

Why? 

HELEN 

Oh, I guess it 's because she 's got too much of what 
I used to be in her. 

TOM 

If I 'm like him, and she 's like you, why can't we be 
married same as you was ? 

HELEN 

I said she was like what I iised to be. 

TOM 

If you ask me I 'd say it 's Mm she takes after. 
{Helen laughs) She does! She's slower thinkin', 
like him, and more set, more contented. She 's ouieter 
than you, and she ain't so smart. 

HELEN 

You flatter me! 
TOM (^seriously) 

That ain't how I meant it. She 's just what I like; 
that 's why I don't want her to go. I want to marry 
her ; I been figurin' on it two years. 

HELEN 

That 's longer than you 've been planning your ga- 
rage! 

TOM 

Yes, I been so busy buildin' the garage I ain't seen 
much of her. 

HELEN 

But it wouldn't have done to neglect the garage. 

TOM 

No. 



58 THE DETOUR [act n 

HELEN 

There 's something in the Bible about trying to serve 
two masters. (Steve enters from kitchen and sits) 
What did you want of Ben Glenny? 

STEVE 

Money ! 

HELEN 

You 've got more imagination than I gave you credit 
for. 

STEVE 

He 's goin' to drive around pretty soon. 
HELEN (alarmed) 

You ain't tryin' to raise more money on this place? 

STEVE 

I 'm tryin' to. 

[^She looks at him and sighs at the hopelessness of 
it as Kate comes rapidly along the road and enters 
gaily through the gate. She has with her a long 
cardboard box, a hat box amd several small pack- 
ages. As she turns a corner of the house and sees 
them, she stops for a moment, startled, 

KATE 

Oh! 

STEVE 

Been down to the Port? 

KATE 

Yes. 

STEVE 

To Neppers ? 
KATE (^evasively) 

I was there for a minute — yes. 

STEVE 

It didn't take you long to learn the stock. 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 59 

KATE 

I — I 

STEVE (rises, sternly) 

TVTiat is it? You 're hidin* somethin'! 
KATE {desperately) 

Mother! Doesn't he know? 

HELEN 

It 's all right, dear! {She puts her hand on Kate's 
shoulder and turns to Steve) She ain't going to 
work for Nepper this year, Stephen ; she 's going to 
New York. 

STEVE 

No. 

HELEN 

She 's going to study art. 

STEVE 

That 's nonsense ! 

HELEN 

We don't think so! 

STEVE 

Think ! That 's the trouble with yer, both of yer ; 
you don't think! 

HELEN 

Maybe not, but we feel a lot. 

STEVE 

Study art! 

HELEN 

Yes. 

STEVE 

I won't have it? 

HELEN 

I made my mind up to' it, whether I think or I don't, 
over ten years ago. It 's just as much a part of 



60 THE DETOUR [act n 

my life — what I 've planned she 's goin' to do and 
be — as the work I do is, or this old dress that I 've 
worn and worn and worn until I wouldn't know my- 
self in any other. I couldn't any more live without 
the hope of what 's coming to her than I could live 
without drink or food. 

STEVE 

She 's my child as much as she 's yours ! 

HELEN 

No, not quite so much. She 's your daughter, but I 
guess I did a little more for her than you did. 

STEVE 

When was you plannin' for her to go.'^ 

HELEN 

To-night ! 
KATE (startled) 
To-night, mother? 

HELEN 

Yes. Mary Barton 's going up on the six o'clock 
train. She was here just after you left. She is 
going visitin' her sister way up town in New York, 
an' she said she could keep you over night just as 
well as not. 

STEVE 

What would she do to-morrow? 

HELEN 

That Mr. Lamont, an artist, that 's taken the bun- 
galow for the summer, is goin' to tell us the names 
of the best teachers — his wife promised — and the 
Y. W. C. A. folks in New York will help her find a 
place to board. 

STEVE 

How long before she comes back? 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 61 

HELEN {bitterly) 
Here! 

STEVE 

Yes. 

HELEN 

That *s for her to say — I been workin' a long time ; 
she 's got to do the rest. 

STEVE 

What 's the sense of it, I can*t see. Can you, Tom? 

TOM 

There ain't any. 

STEVE 

There! You heard that. '^ 
HELEN {wearily) 
I wasn't listenin' ! 

TOM 

I guess she heard me right enough, only I guess she 
thinks it ain't any of my business. 

STEVE 

It could be easy enough ; I always thought 't would 
be! I thought, seein' you two together so much, 
that sooner or later you 'd ask her to marry 
you. 

TOM 

I did. 

HELEN 

And she said no. 

STEVE (angrily) 
She did. 

TOM (spitefully) 

She didn't — she wouldn't say yes, but she never 
really said no, so as a fellar would know she meant 
it ! The no come from somewhere's else I 



62 THE DETOUR [act ii 

STEVE 

What do you mean? 

TOM 

From her! 

l^He looks at Helen bitterly, 

STEVE 

Hold on. Let 's get the rights of this ! 

HELEN 

That 's easy. Do you s'pose I 'd try to make her 
do anything she didn't want to do. 

TOM 

Yes, I do. 

STEVE 

She can't! I guess I figure in this! 

HELEN 

I wouldn't! Kate! 

KATE 

Yes, mother! 

HELEN 

You 've heard them — I want you to tell your father 
the truth! 

TOM 

One way or the other. You know what I want you 
to say. I may be in hard luck now, but I won't be 
always. I 'm a man that means to get ahead ! 

STEVE 

And he will ! I know Tom. I want you to an- 
swer him, Kate! 

HELEN 

And so do I ! He offers you one thing — I guess 
you know what it is — all 's you 've got to do is to 
open your eyes and look around you. 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 63 

STEVE 

What are you offerin' her that 's so much better? 
Just what is it? 

HELEN 

It's hard to say — just in words, but I think she 
knows. 

STEVE 

Well, I don't know ! 

HELEN 

Tom here said a while ago I was always dreaming — 
that 's so I guess — {She turns to Kate with a sud- 
den overflow of great tenderness) And that 's what 
I 'm ofFerin' you, my dear ! One of my dreams — 
come true. 

KATE 

And I 'm going to take it, mother, and make it true. 

HELEN 

I knew you was. {She puts one hand on Kate^s shoul- 
der and faces them) There are times when I Ve got 
courage enough to laugh even at a man! {She turns 
to Kate) Now you run upstairs. There 's lots for 
you to do if you 're goin' to-night. 

KATE 

But father? 

HELEN 

I 've tried hard to be a good wife to him, I guess 
he knows that. I hope he doesn't think that be- 
cause I never made a real fight before that I ain't 
got the spirit to make one now. You run along — • 
I '11 tend to everything. 

KATE 

Yes, mother. 
[She exits. 



64s THE DETOUR [act ii 

STEVE 

You talk big. Where 's the money comin' from ? 
Three hundred dollars won't last forever ! 

HELEN 

We got a little more. 

STEVE 

How much? 

HEXEN 

Just a little we saved up. 

STEVE 

Seems like I was the only one around this place 
that couldn't save nothin'. Seems like what hap- 
pened to a girl like that was more important than 
what happened to me ! We '11 talk about this again 
after I see Ben Glenny, but I don't want you to 
think I 'm going to stand for any nonsense, 
\^He exits at left around tlie Jiouse. 
TOM (with rather malicious pleasure) 
He 's mad ! 

HELEN 

He '11 get over it. 
TOM {doubtfully) 
I don't know! 

HELEN 

You 've never been married. If you had you 'd know 
there ain't anything else for married folks to do. 

TOM 

I don't blame him none for bein' mad! 

HELEN 

It 's natural. He thinks he ought to be let to say 
what Kate does with her life. 

TOM 

Of course. 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 65 

HELEN 

Because it 's right that every man should be the mas- 
ter, and decide things that really matter. Women 
ought to just cook, and clean, and sew, and maybe 
chop a little wood, and have the babies. 

TOM 

That 's how God meant it to be. 

HELEN 

And if a woman sometimes gets to thinkin' it ain't 
quite fair, if she sets herself to sort of change things 
a little, she 's flyin' in the face of Providence ! 

TOM 

I look at it like this — a fellar ought not to be hard 
on a woman if she kinder fusses once in a while. 

HELEN 

So long as she ain't let to do anything? 

TOM 

That's it! 

HELEN 

That idea ain't original, is it? 
TOM (suspicioudy) 
Whatter you mean? 

HELEN 

You borrowed it! 

TOM 

Who from? 

HELEN 

Adam! 

\_SJie exits to house and through the window she is 
seen for a moment at her kitchen work. Tom turns 
sulkily and crosses left as Dora Lamont crosses In 
from left on the road. 



66 THE DETOUR [act n 

DORA 

Oh, Mr. Tom ! I was on my way to see you ! 
\_Tom crosses to her and the2/ stand with the fence 
between them, 

TOM 

There ain't much use my hangin' around my place 
with the road blocked. {He 'points angrily at the 
detour sign on the tree) This is as far as anybody 
can go. 

DORA 

That 's what I wanted to talk to you about. They 
have put this barricade up, but the workmen aren't 
here yet. 

TOM 

They 've been here and gone. Nobody 's goin' to do 
any hurryin' about this job, you know; it 's the tax- 
payers' money. 

DORA 

My husband wants you to let our car out of your 
garage and bring it up to the bungalow right away. 

TOM 

Oh! 

DORA 

You could lift that barricade away, couldn't you.'' 

TOM 

Yes, I could. 

DORA 

Well.? What is it.? 

TOM 

Nothing only you see your car was all I had, the 
only one — I sort of hate to part with it. 
DORA (smiling) 

That 's about the way we feel about it. 



ACT n] THE DETOUR 67 

TOM 

I know. I '11 bring it up. 

DORA 

I 'm sorry, but after all you have that great big 
farm ! 

TOM 

Oh, I 'm all right. 

DORA 

That 's good. We '11 expect the car some time to- 
day. 

TOM 

You '11 get it. 

l^Dora exits at left the same way she came. Tom 
stands for a moment in gloomy thought as Kate 
enters to the porch from the kitchen. Kate has 
put on her pretty new dress — quite modern in cut 
— and with it she has put on a new air of coquetry 
as though she had suddenly blossomed i/nto woman- 
hood and rejoiced in its power, 

KATE 

Hello, Tom! 

TOM 

Kate! (He steps toward her quite overwhelmed) 
Kate! What you been doin' to yourself? 

KATE 

Oh, just trying on my new dress. 

TOM 

Yes — yes — I see ! 

[^He turns away as if to go, 

KATE 

Tom? ( He takes another step and she speaks 
louder) Tom ! 



68 THE DETOUR [act n 

TOM 

Well? 

\_He stops but he doesn't turn. 

KATE 

Turn around here, Tom Lane! (He turns slowly 
and faces her) Aren't j^ou going to tell me how 
you like it? 

TOM 

About as much as the fellar likes to hear the Judge 

say, "And may God have mercy on your soul." 
KATE (hurt) 

You 're spoiling everything ! 
TOM (sadly) 

Something is, right enough. 

KATE 

The only decent dress I ever had. 

TOM 

I didn't say it was pretty — I didn't say how I 
thought you looked in it — I didn't dare to. 

KATE 

Wliy not.? 

TOM 

I ain't an artist — artists like things that are pretty 
just because they are pretty — I don't care nothin' 
about 'em unless they 're mine! 
KATE (archly) 

Meaning the dress? 

TOM 

You know well enough what I mean ! 

KATE 

Yes, I know. I 'm sorry, Tom ! I don't want to 
go away — with you hating me ! You 're mad with 
me now, and I know how hard it is for you to for- 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 69 

give anybody that makes you mad — but, Tom — 
you Ve not going to be angry with me always. 

TOM 

A lot you 'd care ! How much will you think about 

this place, or anj^body here, once you get out 

of it ! 
KATE (shocked) 

Why ! There 's father — and mother ! 
TOM {darhly) 

I know, plenty of girls get to be ashamed of their 

folks! 

KATE 

I wouldn't, and of course 1 couldn't help thinking 
about 3^ou sometimes. Tom, remembering tilings — 
we 've been such good friends. 

TOM 

It don't take long to lose a friend. 

KATE 

You 're blaming me because I 'm going ! 
TOM {bitterly) 

No ! I 'm blaming her! 

KATE 

You mustn't ! All that 's good I 've ever had she 
gave me. 

TOM 

Maybe it won't be so good as you two think it will. 
KATE {frightened) 

You think I 'm going to fail. 

TOM 

All I 'm thinkin' about is if you 'd stayed here we 'd 
have been happy. 

KATE 

Not unless — unless I 'd — I 'd cared. 



70 THE DETOUR [act ii 

TOM 

She wouldn't let you care ! 

KATE 

You just won't try to understand! This is some- 
thing mother 's planned for me all my life. I can't 
help doing it. 

TOM 

Your mother gets ideas ! 

XATE 

She used to sit by my bed, in the dark, and talk 
about it when I was a little girl. Daytimes she 'd 
take me walking with her and point out the pretty 
places in the woods, and the colors in the sky, and 
show me how different they were, and how wonderful. 
How could I help getting so I wanted to paint them? 
How can I help wanting to go where some one can 
teach me to be what she 's so hungry for me to be? 

TOM 

I guess you couldn't, not unless it was like you said. 
Unless vou cared about somebody else more 'n vou 
do about her. 

KATE 

And I don't ! If I did, I 'd hate myself ! 

TOM 

It 's all right ! I ain't goin' to take no advantage, 
I ain't goin' to try to keep you — but I could ! 

KATE 

No! 

TOM 

Oh, yes, I could ! Your father M stop your goin', 
quick enough, if I was to tell him a few things. 

KATE 

I don't know what you 're talking about ! 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 71 

TOM 

I guess he 'd say if you was in love with me you 
couldn't go, and if you weren't in love with me — 
and he knew about your lettin' me kiss you four 
or five times, like I did last winter, and your puttin' 
your arms around my neck — then I guess he 'd say 
he wouldn't trust you out of his sight. 

KATE 

You 'd tell him that — when you begged me so — 
when I was so lonesome! 

TOM 

I don't say I '11 tell him, but it 's a satisfaction 

knowin' I could stop this thing if I wasn't so sort 

of sentimental. 
KATE (angrily) 

I 'd go now, no matter what you told him ! If he said 

I couldn't go, I 'd run away ! 
TOM (tliouglit fully) 

You 've got spirit in you once in a while like your 

mother's. I wonder if maybe you don't favor her 

more 'n I figured you did ! 

[Ben Glenny is seen to enter at left on the road. 

He looks off right, hack of house, as if he saw 

Stephen there, and calls. 

BEN 

Hello, Steve! 

\_Stephen answers from right, hack of house. 

STEVE 

I been waitin' for you ! 

KATE 

They '11 be here in a minute. Come in with me, Tom ; 
I want to talk to you. 



72 THE DETOUR [act ii 

TOM 

You needn't worry, I ain't going to tell on you ! 

KATE 

It is n't that, but I won't see you again, and I don't 
want to have to remember you like this ! 

TOM 

No, you '11 give me one kiss, I suppose, and you '11 
think it 's damned funny if I don't think anything 
you want to do is right. 

KATE 

I 'm going in, you can suit yourself ! 
l^She exits, to kitchen; after a second's sulky hesi- 
tation he follows, Steve has joined Ben Glenny at 
gate and they cross dozvnstage together, 

STEVE » 

Well? 

BEN 

I saw both of them. 

STEVE 

Sit down. 
[They sit, 

BEN 

It 's hot walkin'. 

[He wipes the perspiration from his face with a 

cotton handkerchief, 

STEVE 

Saw both of 'em? 

BEN 

Yes. 

STEVE 

Already ? That looks bad ; funny how much quicker 
a man says no than he '11 say yes ! 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 73 

BEN 

Both of 'em says your farm won't stand any more 
borrowin' on. Billings said you had so many mort- 
gages on it now he didn't see where you found any 
room to raise crops. He was sort of jokin'. 

STEVE 

He's a fool! 

BEN 

Allers was. 

STEVE 

But he 's got the money and I haven't ! 

BEN 

And he keeps what he 's got, and you don't. 

STEVE 

I ain't throwed away a dollar in twenty years, not 
so much as fifteen cents for a movin' picture 1 

BEN 

You 're land hungry ! 

STEVE 

I've got to get more land! I'm bound to do it! 
I 've got to get fifteen hundred dollars. 

BEN 

I wish you 'd get the three hundred and seven you 
owe for taxes. I 'm way back in my collectin'. 

STEVE 

I got it in the bank. But I was figurin' to use it to 
buy Tom Lane's twenty acres, if I could raise the 
balance. 

BEN 

And you need a thousand? 

STEVE 

Yes. It 's a chance I won't get again. If Tom 's 
sold up for what he owes, the land 's gone for good, 



74 THE DETOUR [act n 

an' if he pulls through an' makes money with his 
garage, he wouldn't want to sell. 

BEN 

They was some talk about Tom Lane an' your girl 
Kate's runnin' around together. That 'd be one way 
of gettin' that land in your family. 

STEVE 

I stopped dependin' on a woman the day I was 
weaned. 

BEN 

Well, I can't do nothin' fer yer. (He rises) I tried. 

STEVE 

You ain't got money enough to lend it to me your- 
self.? 

BEN 

No, I ain't ! Bein' a tax collector, an' process 
server an' county clerk has sort of made me lose con- 
fidence in home folks. I don't pretend to know 
more 'n anybody else, but I 'm savin' up all my money 
an' buyin' oil stocks. (He starts left) Sorry I 
couldn't do nothin' for you, Steve. 

STEVE 

I didn't have much faith in your gettin' it, but 't was 
my only chance. 

BEN 

Well if you 'd got it I s'pose 'twould have been all 
the harder for me to get your taxes out of yer. 

STEVE 

Maybe — but I 'd of had the land. 

BEN 

Well — good day. It 's some hot. 

STEVE 

An' we need rain — good day, Ben. 



ACT n] THE DETOUR 75 

\_Ben exits out gate and along the road at left. Steve 
sits in deep thought. Helen comes to wmdow and 
looks out, then crosses to door and standing back 
of the screen door, she speaks, 

HELEN 

I heard Ben Glenny's voice. 

STEVE 

Yes. 

HELEN 

You didn't get the money you wanted out of him? 

STEVE 

No. 

HELEN 

I am sorry if you 're disappointed. 

STEVE 

Come out a minute, I want to talk to yer. 

[^Helen opens the screen door and steps out on porch. 

HELEN 

Kate an' Tom Lane are in the parlor. She ought 
to be packin' her trunk ; 3^ou '11 have to take it to 
the station. 

STEVE 

You get three hundred dollars for that old truck 
of your mother's? 

HELEN 

Yes. 

STEVE 

And I 've got five hundred in the bank. I 'm going 
to ask Tom if he '11 take eight hundred and my note 
for the balance. 

HELEN 

You 're goin' to give Tom Lane my three hundred 
dollars ? 



76 THE DETOUR [act ii 

STEVE 

If he '11 take it. 

HELEN 

No. 

STEVE 

He 's got to take it ! He would, I know, if we was 
to get Kate to ask him. 

HELEN 

You don't mean that! 

STEVE 

Yes. 

HELEN 

You 'd do a thing like that just for more land? 

STEVE 

For that land! 

HELEN 

I 've been a slave to land ever since I married you ; 
I 'm tired of it ! 

STEVE 

You ain't been any more of a slave than I 've been ! 
You 're a good worker, but you ain't worked like 
I do I There ain't a foot of this land here I ain't 
watered with my sweat ! 

HELEN 

And you want more, and it 's all you do want I More 
work for you and for me, more taxes and mort- 
gages hangin' over us. 

STEVE 

I want a farm! I 'm bound to get it ! I 'm no 
damned Japanese I I tell you this is my chance ! 

HELEN 

It 's Kate's chance too, Steve. You 're forgettin' 



ACT II] THE DETOUR 77 

that! You wouldn't take her chance away from 
her? 

STEVE 

Yes — I would. I 'm goin' to ! 

HELEN 

I won't let you — that 's all — I just won't ! {He 
rises without a word and crosses into the house. 
She looks distressed and anxious. In a moment he 
returns, in his hand the jug in which is the money 
and the dusty hunch of artificial flowers. As she 
sees this in his hand, she steps hack almost in terror) 
Stephen ! 

STEVE 

There 's money here. I always knew you kept some- 
thin' in here, but it was no business of mine! That 
three hundred dollars is here.'' 
HELEN {nervously) 
Yes. 

STEVE 

There 's more, too ; it *s heavy ! 

[He shakes the jar and the sound of the sUver is 

heard. 

HELEN 

All that 's there is mine and Kate's. 

STEVE 

How much? 

HELEN 

You said just now that what I kept in there wasn't 
any business of yours, and it ain't! 

STEVE 

How much? 

HELEN 

If I 've got any rights at all ! If you 've got any 



78 THE DETOUR [act ii 

bit of feelin' left for me, or for what I ask of you, 
I want you to put that down ! 

\_B7/ may of answer, he throws the artificial flowers 
contemptuously aside, and turning the jug up he 
pours the contents out on the table. 
STEVE {as he sees) By God! 

HELEN 

It 's just like you struck me in the face. 
[She drops into chair, hiding her eyes with her fim- 
gers. He counts the money eagerly and with grow- 
ing joy and excitement, 

STEVE 

Over a thousand dollars ! 

HELEN 

More 'n ten years I done without — I made her do 
without ! Many a time I took her teachin' money 
when she wanted a pretty dress, an' I cried myself 
to sleep that night — but I took it ! 

STEVE 

With my five hundred it '11 be enough ! Tom 's ini 
the parlor, you say? {He crosses to door of kitchen 
and calls ) Tom ! Tom ! I want you \ 
[As he turns hack, Helen springs between himi and 
the table. 

HELEN 

Don't shame me before them, Steve, don't. 
STEVE {sternly) 

I want you not to make a fuss now, Helen. 

HELEN 

I tried to be a good wife to you all these hard, hard 
years. Once before I had money — I 'd saved it, 
just like I saved this — 't was like a key — a key 
to the door that was shuttin' me out from life — 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 79 

and I gave it up, for you — because you made me 
love you — when I didn't want to. Now, when I 
ain't got anything but that, too — don't make me 
hate you! 

[Tom and Kate enter from the kitchen. Kate looks 
at her father and mother with dismay, 

KATE 

What is it? 

STEVE 

I '11 take that offer of yours, Tom. We '11 get Ben 
Glenny to draw up a bill of sale. Fifteen hundred 
cash and a mortgage for the balance ! 
HELEN {to Kate) 

It 's your money ! He 's takin' it. 

KATE 

Father ! 

HELEN 

You '11 waste your time beggin' him ! He 's a hard 
man! 
TOM {to Steve) 

You 're goin' to buy my land.'' 

STEVE 

Yes. 
HELEN {turns desperately to Tom) 

Tom! You won't take it; tell him you won^t take 
it, knowin' what it means to me an' Kate ! 

KATE 

Of course he won't take it, mother! 

STEVE 

Why won^t he? He needs it, don't he? Course he '11 
take it, won't you, Tom? 
KATE {proudly) 
He won't! 



80 THE DETOUR [act ii 

TOM 

I want the money and he wants the land. I don't 
see no reason why I shouldn't take it. 
KATE {scornfully) 

After the way you were just talking to me in there? 
[She points to house, 

TOM 

Buyin' land, or sellin' it is a matter of business. 
HELEN {to Kate) 

We might have known he would ! 

STEVE 

I '11 telephone fer Ben Glenny ! 
[He steps towards table, putting out his hand for 
the money. 
HELEN {steps in front of hi/m) 
You 're a thief, Steve Hardy ! 

STEVE 

Helen! 

[He draws back, horrified. 

HELEN 

Just a thief ! A common thief ! Ain't you robbed 
me always — of my youth — of my life — of my 
looks — I ain't forty — and look at me — look what 
you 've done to me ! You thief — and now it 's her ! 

STEVE 

Nobody ever called me a name like that! Nobody 
ever dared! 

HELEN 

Why should I be afraid? What more could you do 
to me! 

STEVE 

You can't call me a thief ! This is my house ; what 's 
in it is mine, all of it! 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 81 

HELEN 

My mother's furniture wasn't yours ! 

STEVE 

It 's been part of the fumishin' of my house for 
twent}'^ years. Of course it's mine! So 's the rest 
of this money ! 

HELEN 

The savings out of her salary, teachin' school and 
tendin' store! 

STEVE 

She 's my daughter, and she ain't of age ! 

HELEN 

And ten years of savin' dime by dime out of my egg 
and chicken money ! 

STEVE 

That 's the thanks I get fer lettin' you call 'em yours 
— the hens was mine ! 

HELEN 

Everything is yours! 

STEVE 

Of course it is! 

HELEN 

And I get my keep! I haven't had a dress in two 
years, and then one I made myself. I get my food, 
but I have to cook it first. Where else would you 
get a cook who 'd work like I work and only get 
her keep ! They ain't but one way to get a girl as 
cheap as that, and that 's to marry her ! 

KATE 

Like Tom Lane wanted to marry me! 

HELEN 

The summer folks here pay a cook seventy-five dol- 
lars a month who 'd be too proud to do the work I 



82 THE DETOUR [act n 

do! That Mrs. Lamont paid an agent ten dollars 
just for gettin' her a cook ! That shows how smart 
jou are, Steve Hardy; alls you paid was one dollar 
for a weddin' license ! 
STEVE {putting money hack into jar) 

You 're callin' pretty hard names, wife, and I ain't 
a patient man! 

HELEN 

I 've been a patient woman, but I can't be any more ! 
Kate! {She throws her arms about her) I don't 
seem like I could stand it ! 
KATE {clinging to her) 

Don't, mother ! Don't ! You break my heart 1 

STEVE 

What 's all the fuss about ! Why not let her stay 
here, same as all the other g'irls, an' marry a decent 
man like Tom? 

HELEN 

Another wife — to another man like you ! 

STEVE 

Better maybe than sendin' a young girl like she is 
out alone to mix with strangers in a place like New 
York City. 

HELEN 

Why is it? Why? How could it be? 

STEVE 

How do you know what woifld become of her? 

HELEN 

How could I know? I only know what would become 
of her here! 

STEVE 

You never thought about the other thing, did you! 



ACT ii] THE DETOUR 83 

About who she might meet, alone there — about 
what she might get to be. 

HELEN 

She miglit get to be a great artist, like I Ve prayed 
she would. 

STEVE 

And she might get to be a woman of the streets I 

HELEN* 

And if she did would she sell herself as cheap as I 
did! Would she fall any lower than I am? She'd 
have had her chance ; win or lose, she 'd have had 
it, she 'd have had some hours, anyway, somethin* 
to remember! 
STEVE {shocked) 

You mean then that like that she 'd be better off than 
you Ve been here with me 1 

HELEN 

Yes! 

STEVE 

All right ! My house is no place for you, not if you 
feel like that. {He holds the jug out to her) You 
claim this money. 

HELEN 

I do ! I 'U keep on claimin' it ! 

STEVE 

Take it, then, but remember this — if you do take it, 
and if she goes against my will — you go with 
her! 

KATE 

Father ! 
STEVE (to Helen) 

You go, and you don't come back. 



84. THE DETOUR [act n 

HELEN 

Wait — we got to understand each other ! You Ve 
tumin' me out ! 

STEVE 

You always claimed to be smarter than I was. I 
guess you got my meanin' ! 

HELEN 

Oh, yes, I got that long ago — that everything must 
be for you, an' nothin' for me ! The only thing you 
ever gave me was your name, I bought that from 
you when I was young. I paid you for it with all 
I had — now I ain't young, any more, an' you 're 
sick of your bargain — you want to call it off. I 
wish to God you could — I 'd give you back your 
name if you 'd give me back what I paid for it ! 

STEVE 

Just words ! That 's all ! You heard mine ! If she 
goes — you go ! 

KATE 

You don't mean it, father! You can^t! 
STEVE (to Helen) 

I 'm going to let you choose ! 

HELEN 

All right ! There 's a train at seven ! 

[She puts her arm about Kate and they turn and 

exit to the Icitchen, 



CURTAIN 



ACT ni 

Scene: Hardy^s kitchen (same as Act I) about ani 
hour later, 

Stephen, his pipe in his mouth, sits moodily hy stove. 
Tom Lane, also with a pipe, stands in open doorway 
to the hall, shamelessly listening. 

TOM 

Wait a minute! (He bends eagerly out into haU, 
Stephen rises from his chair and stands looking at 
door. In a nwment Tom turns back into room) 
No, they 're movin' around all right, but they ain't 
comin' down. 

STEPHEN 

Oh! 

[He drops back into chair, 
TOM (contemptuously) 

And you 're going to let 'em go ! 

STEPHEN 

I ain't goin' to stop 'em. 

TOM 

You could — if you was to show a little spirit ! 

STEPHEN 

It 's for them to say ; only if they go they can't 
come back — not ever ! 

TOM 

As far as that goes, maybe they 'd never want to. 
(He hears a sound) Wait! They 're movin' again! 
(He puts his head out into hall. Steve looks at him 



86 THE DETOUR [act m 

but does not again get up. In a moment Tom turns 
bach) What do you s'pose I heard 'em doin'? 

STEVE 

Crjin'? 

TOM 

Singin'! 

STEVE 

No! 

TOM 

Yes ! And not hymns — tunes! I guess you can 
take a rest from feelin' Kke you was Simon Legree 
beatin' Uncle Tom to death ! Looks to me like they 
was glad they was goin' ! 
STEVE {sternly) 

Then it 's best they went \ 

TOM 

It 's a serious thing when a man'^s wife leaves him ! 

STEVE 

Yes. 

TOM 

It 's awful when she takes a thousand dollars with 
her! 

STEVE 

Yes. 

[He smokes in silence. Tom sits moodily iri' chair. 

TOM 

If they was mine they wouldn't go ! 
STEVE (coldly) 

Well — they ain't. 
TOM (a little resentful) 

I got to give you credit for one thing; everything 

you say is always true, even if it ain't very in- 

terestin'. 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 87 

STEVE ( tliough t fully ) 

It takes a lot of patience to get along Anth any 
woman. 

TOM 

Seems so. 

STEVE 

She had her faults. 

TOM 

I know it. 

STEVE 

In most ways she 's been a good wife to me. 

TOM 

She 'd ought to be. 

STEVE 

I ain't defendin' her. 

TOM 

She was the kind I couldn't 'a got along with. 

STEVE 

Why couldn't you? You wanted to marry Kate! 

TOM 

She ain't like her mother, she 's the "spit and im- 
age" of you. 

STEVE 

Kate? 
TOM (losing confidence) Leastways I always thought 
so. 

STEVE 

If you don't know no more about an automobile 
than you do about a woman, I guess it 's just as 
well they closed the road. 
[He turns disgusted. 

TOM 

Hark! {He rises suddenly) Some one's on the 



88 THE DETOUR [act in 

stairs ! {He crosses and looks out to hall, then turns 
in great excitement ) Yes ! Now we '11 know ! 

STEVE 

What will we know? 

TOM 

If they 're really goin' ! I bet they ain't. 

STEVE 

Humph ! 

[Tom sits; im a moment Kate and Helen enter. Be- 
tween them they carry a trunk, and Helen has an 
old cardboard box under one arm. They pay not 
the slightest attention to the men hut put the trunk 
down left of center two or three feet away from where 
Steve is sittmg, 

HELEN 

Now we '11 get the trays. 
KATE (without glancing at Tom or Steve, mho sit 

stolidly smoking their pipes) It ^s too bad they 're 

no men in the house to help us. 
HELEN (sniffs scornfully) 

You don't smell anything peculiar, do you? 
KATE (doubtfully) 

I don't know! 

HELEN 

I s'pose it was that awful imagination of mine; of 
course nobody would smoke in my kitchen! 
\_Helen and Kate exit to hall, 

TOM 

They are goin' ! 

STEVE 

After this I ain't never comin' in here without I 
smoke ! 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 89 

TOM 

Yes, sir ! They 're goin' ! 

STEVE 

What time is it? 

TOM 

You asked me that twice already ! What do you 
care ; you never do nothin' ! 
STEVE ( wis tfidly ) 

We used to eat at six. 

TOM 

Well, it 's about that now. Who 's going to get 
your meals for you? 

STEVE 

It don't take no brains to cook ! I can run a house 
as good as a woman. I ain't going to have no hired 
girl ; I '11 do for myself ! 

TOM 

Anybody can; it 's nothin' to make a fuss about. 
STEVE ( anxiously ) 

I don't s'pose she '11 take her cook book.'' 

TOM 

What if she does? All you need is a little common 
sense and a good appetite. 

STEVE 

You said 't was six, didn't yer? 

TOM 

There 's a clock right in front of yer ! 

[They sit back puffing at pipes. Helen and Kate 

enter; vn their hands they carry the two trays of the 

trunk, 

HELEN 

Wait, I '11 open it. 

[She puts the tray on the floor and opens trunk. 



90 THE DETOUR [act m 

Kate puts her tray in. Helen sniffs at the tobacco 
smoke and crosses and opens the window directly 
back of Tom^s chair, then goes and opens door; a 
strong wind outside blows the window curtains and 
the draft annoys both Tom and Steve, 

KATE (takes a deep breath) 
Ah! That's better! 

HELEN (pleasantly) 
It '11 air the room. 

KATE {with a cold look at Tom) 

I noticed something disagreeable in here. 
[Thisy and the cold air blowing on their backs, is 
too much for Tom and Steve, who rise sheepishly and 
exit to the porch and out of sight, Helen looks 
after them and laughs, 

HELEN 

I do declare it 's funny. I guess I 'm feelin' sort of 
flighty or I wouldn't act so silly. I ought to be 
ashamed, makin' 'em uncomfortable on purpose! 

KATE 

I guess they deserve to be more uncomfortable than! 
anything we say could make them. 

HELEN 

We 'd better hurry ; we 've got lots to do. 

KATE 

I left that other new dress of mine on a chair in 
your room ; you 'd better try it on. 

HELEN 

I wouldn't dare to wear it ! It 's cut so young ! 

KATE 

You can't go to New York in that old thing ! After 
this, I 'm going to see that you have everything I 
have, and I 'm going to have all I can get. 



ACT m] THE DETOUR 91 

HELEN" 

We '11 have to be awful careful ! I don't know as 
a thousand will be enough! 

KATE 

Your going makes all the difference. I am not afraid 
any more. 

HELEN 

Why should we be? 

KATE 

I *11 be making plenty of money long before we 
need it. 

HELEN 

I 'm as sure of it as I am of livin' ! 

KATE 

Mother ! Just tliink ! We 're really going ! 

HELEN 

I don't dare think. I just keep on doin' things! 

KATE 

Who 's afraid now.'* 

4 

HELEN 

It don't seem real at all! I guess thinkin' about it 
so m,any years kinder makes it all seem like a story 
in a book — like it was about somebody else. 

KATE 

Well, it is n't. 

HELEN 

I know it, because every once in a while I get a kind 
of a sinking here. (She puts her hand for a moTnent 
on her stontach) Like a person does when they go 
down fas.t in an elevator! 

KATE 

You don't think I am going to fail.f^ 



92 THE DETOUR [act m 

HELEN 

I know you 've got the talent ; that 's all that mat- 
ters. God gave it to you ; He '11 help us. 

KATE 

And you 're not worrying about — about father.'' 

HELEN 

Why should I? He ain't worryin' much about me. 

KATE 

No, neither 's Tom Lane worrying ! They don't 
know how! 

HELEN 

Some day, when I get settled down to think again, 
it 's goin' to hurt — your father's tumin' me out 
like he did, forgettin' in a minute all I 'd been to 
him for half a lifetime — but right now about all 
I 've got room for in my head is we 're goin'! 

KATE 

And you 're going to wear that new red dress ! 

HELEN 

I don't know but I 'd about as well be hung for a 
sheep as a lamb! {She takes a bulky roll of hills 
from her apron pocket) Here, dear, the silver 's in 
a bag in the top tray of the trunk ; here 's the rest 
of it. 

KATE 

Why should I take it.'' 

HELEN 

It 's your money. I 'm just going with you. 

KATE 

But 

HELEN 

That 's the way I want it ! 



ACT ml THE DETOUR 93 

KATE (takes money) 

I don't see what difference it makes ; what 's mine 
is jours. 

HELEN 

Two people so much alike as we are, just living to- 
gether, can't help being happy. 

[^She puts the cardboard box she has been holding oit 
her arm on table and opens it. Kate looks up from 
pacliing the top tray of her trunk and sees her 
mother sorting over the contents of the box, 

KATE 

What's that? 

HELEN 

Just rubbish, things I 've had ever since I was a girl. 
I s'pose I 'd better burn it. {She is looking through 
old letters, a few dance cards, a photograph or two) 
Goodness! What truck folks keep! {She comes 
across a faded old photograph and after glancing at 
it, stands looking at it intently) 

KATE 

Let 's see what you 're looking at. {She crosses and 
looks at the photograph at first with simple curi- 
osity, then with amazed recognition) Oh, mother ! 
[She laughs. 
HELEN {indignant) 

I don't see anything to laugh at! 

KATE 

But to think of father — young ! 

HELEN 

Well, he was! 

KATE 

Of course, he must have been! I should think he 
would have hated it ! 



94 THE DETOUR [act m 

HELEN 

He was young as anybody once! 
KATE (looking at photo) 

He was about Tom^s age, wasn't he? 

HELEN 

He was better lookin*. 
KATE (doubtfully) 
Do you think so? 

HELEN 

I know it! (She puts the photograph aside) I 
won't burn it! I ought to, but I won't! 
\^She starts to sort over the other thmgs, 

KATE 

It 's no use ! I can't think of him as young ! Did 
he — (She giggles) — Did he used to make love to 
you? 

HELEN 

It might be a good thing if you minded your own 
business. 

KATE 

Wrote you love letters and everything? 

HELEN 

Of course he did! 

KATE 

I '11 bet they 're all there ! 

HELEN 

He didn't write many. 

KATE 

I '11 bet he didn't. 

HELEN 

They 're here somewhere — ah ! 

\_As she finds a pitifully thin package hound up with 

a faded ribbon. 



ACT ml THE DETOUR 95 



KATE 

Is that all? 
HELEN {defencelessly) 

He wasn't any much ! 
KATE (puts out her hand) 

I want to read them ! 
HELEN (draws away) 

Well, you can't! (She opens one of the letters and 

looks at it) " January tenth, nineteen hundred." 

That 's a long time ago ! 

KATE 

You can't make me believe it 's a love letter ! 

HELEN 

Well, it is! ^'My dear Helen!" (She reads) I 
can remember how happy I was the day I got this. 
Just as if it was yesterday! (She reads) "I got 
to New York all right, about six o'clock and went 
to the Bartholdi Hotel and got a room. It was most 
eight before I got through supper, so I went right 
to bed." 

KATE 

Go on! 

HELEN 

That's all ; he didn't write long letters. 

KATE 

Let 's see how he ended it ! 
HELEN (reads) 

" Yours truly, Stephen Hardy." 
KATE (laughs) 

He woidd. 

HELEN 

That was just before we was married! (She opens 
another one) Oh, yes ! (As she looks at it) This 



96 THE DETOUR [act iii 

was the year you was born — I was waitin' for you, 
an' he went to New York to raise the first mortgage 
we ever had on the farm. 

KATE 

Regular pleasure trip for him! 
HELEN (lookmg at letter) 

It 's funny, my f orgettin' so much ! I was happy 
sometimes ! Look where I cried right on that let- 
ter! {She points to stain on the old paper) 
"My dear Wife." (She reads) "1 don't like it 
here, and I wish I was back with you!" (She sighs) 
*' The food here don't agree with me, and eating costs 
so much you 've either got to starve, or eat and suf- 
fer ! I 've been thinking about you a lot, and about 

the hard time that 's coming to you ^You 're a 

brave girl and a good wife — I know you 're going 
to be a good mother ! — if the calf won't eat, you '11 
have to give him a little warm milk morning and 
night. Remember you 've got to take good care of 
yourself until the baby comes. The rubbage from 
the garden will do for the pigs 'til I get home. Your 
loving husband — Steve ! " 

\_She sits in the chair and for a moment hides her 
face in her hands, 

KATE 

Don't, mother! 

l^She puts her hamd tenderly on Helen* s^ shoulders. 

HELEN 

If he wanted me, I 'd stay, just so long as he 'd let 
you go I 

KATE 

He didn't want you, and he wouldn't let me go, not 
if he could help it! 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 97 

HELEN 

I wonder, while God was doin' it, he didn't fix it so 's 
we 'd be always young ! 

KATE 

Maybe because he meant for us to take all the hap- 
piness we could while we could get it, and if we let 
it slip away from us, nobody but ourselves would be 
to blame. 

HELEN 

Maybe — that 's why I don't know as I deserve an- 
other chance. 

[Tom Lane looks slyly m at the window. Kate sees 
Mm out of the corner of her eye and stoops close 
to her mother's ear and speaks low. 

KATE 

They 're looking at us through the window ! 
[Helen straightens up with dignity and puts the let- 
ters hack into the box and crosses and drops the box 
into the top tray of the trunk; then, her head thrown 
proudly back, she exits to the hall, followed by Kate. 
Tom looks in window again' and speaks over his 
shoulder. 

TOM 

They 're goin' ! (He and Steve pass the window and 
enter) I couldn't hear what they was sayin' ! 

STEVE 

'T was none of your business. 

TOM 

I wouldn't listen! Anyhow, they talked awful low. 
[Steve crosses to the kitchen clock and after looking 
at it earnestly, he takes it down from the shelf and 
shakes it. 



98 THE DETOUR [act m 

STEVE 

Seems later than 't is ! I 'm goin' to get supper. 
l^He crosses to cupboard, 

TOM 

I suppose you 've got to get used to doin' it. 

STEVE 

Any fool can do it! (He looks over the shelves of 
the cupboard) There 's plenty here, wasteful 
plenty ! 

TOM 

Wliatter you goin' to get.'' 

STEVE 

W-w-e-1-1? (He takes down a package of prepared 

buckwheat flour) I don^t know but what I '11 make 

a flapjack. 
TOM (doubtfully) 

If I was you I 'd boil an Qgg ! 
STEVE (reading directions) 

Simple enough! Anybody can make a flapjack. 

[He gets frying pan and puts it on the stove, 

TOM 

I guess so, I never tried. 

STEVE 

There 's directions. (He reads what is on package) 
I see ! (He pours some flour directly into the fryi/ng 
pan) I '11 make plenty and you can stay an' eat. 
[^He draws a dipper of water and pours it into the 
flour in the pan and stirs it with a spoon. Tom 
looks at the resulting mess doubtfully, 

TOM 

No ! No ! I guess I '11 eat at home ! 
STEVE (angrily) 

Wl^at 's the matter with it? 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 99 

TOM 

I don't know. (He hends over it curioudy) It looks 
indecent. 

STEVE 

It'U be all right! 

TOM 

I was n't hungry even before I looked at that ! (He 
crosses toward door) I '11 see if they Ve started 
workin' on the road. 

STEVE 

I '11 be out after a while. 

TOM 

Not if you eat them flapjacks! 

[He exits. Steve hends anxiously over his cooking 
as Kate enters with some clothes on her arm and 
stops in surprise, 

KATE 

Father! 

STEVE 

WeU! 

[Kate crosses over and looks into the frying pan, 
KATE (m horror) 
What's that? 

STEVE 

A flapjack. It ain't quite boiled. 

KATE 

If you eat anything like that while we 're away, 
mother will have to hurry right home and nurse you ! 

STEVE 

If she goes she can't come back ; I told her that. 

KATE 

But you didn't really mean it ? 



100 THE DETOUR [act m 

STEVE 

Yes — she knows I meant it, and she '11 go for good ; 
she was always proud ! I got some pride myself 
and I ain't likely to forget what she said — about 
bein' unhappy here always. I ain't likely to forget. 

KATE 

She 'd have been happy if you 'd been a little kinder 
to her. If you 'd showed her a little plainer that 
you loved her. 

STEVE 

It was her business to know it, 

KATE 

I don't see how she could. 

STEVE 

A man can't be talkin' about love all the time ! It 's 
just like religion — every day ain't Sunday! (He 
looks at the mess in the fryimg pan desperately) 
How long has this damned thing to boil! 

KATE 

Father ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! I never saw anything so 
funny in all my life ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! 
\^She runs out, laughmg wildly. Steve considers his 
mess gravely then picks up the package and adds 
more flour, finally emptying the whole package into 
it. As he bends over the stove, Helen enters. She 
has on a smart dark red dress and has arranged her 
hair to give a new look almost of girlishness. She 
sees him at the stove and crosses firmly and pushes 
him away and looks at the mess, 
STEVE (defensively) 

It would have been all right in another minute. 

HELEN 

I fed the pigs once to-day ! 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 101 

STEVE 

I was going to eat it. 

HELEN 

Go away! (She picks up the frymg pan and throws 
the contents in a garbage pail) I '11 fix you some- 
thing! 
STEVE {stiffly) 

I won't trouble you. 

HELEN 

Some eggs ; that 's quick. {She starts to prepare 
some scrambled eggs. He looks at her furiously) 
What is it ? What are you lookin' at me for ? 

STEVE ^ 

You look — different — sort of ! 

HELEN 

Oh, this dress ; it 's Kate's. She made me put it on. 

STEVE 

It 's — sort of — er — red ! 

HELEN 

Yes. I think it 's nice. 

STEVE 

I don't know as I like it so well as the red one you 
had. 

HELEN 

I haven't had a red one for twenty years. 

STEVE 

That 's the one I meant. 
[He crosses and sits at table, 
HELEN (at Sterne) 

You '11 die if you was to try to look after yourself ! 
I guess you can get a girl to come in for about seven 
dollars a week. 



102 THE DETOUK [act m 

STEVE (m horror) 

Seven dollars a week! 

HELEN! 

About. 

\_She cuts him some bread, 

STEVE 

A man would have a right to divorce a woman that 's 
actin' like you 're doin' ! 

HELEN 

Then you could marry a girl and save money ! That 
Mrs. Lament will be around for her eggs. I put 
*em in this basket. {She shows basket on table) 
Eighty-five cents is a fair price. {She crosses and 
puts food on his table) There! Eat! 
STEVE (loolcs up at her) 

Was it twenty years since you had that red dress? 

HELEN 

I made it before we was married. How 'd you come 
to remember it.? 

STEVE 

I don't know — seems like you 'd always had it. 

HELEN 

Before it wore out that 's how it seemed to me. 

STEVE 

Somehow I sort of see you in it — I mean when you 
ain't really around — and I 'm sort of seein' you, in 
my mind like. You were a good-lookin' girl, a 
mighty good-lookin' girl. (He looks up at her; slie 
is quite softened) You ain't changed much. {She 
half turns away, confused by his compliment) I 
mean you ain't changed so much as I thought you 
had! 



ACT in] THE DETOUK 103 

HELEN {angrily) 
Eat your supper! 

STEVE 

Yes. {He draws his place to him and starts to but- 
ter his bread) It 's past my time ; I hate my vittals 
late ! Twenty years — I remember the first time ever 
I saw that red dress. 

HELEN 

Huh! 

STEVE 

You was in the kitchen at your house, an' I came to 
take yer to a dance down to the Port. 

HELEN 

It was New Year's night. It had been snowin', and 
it was so lovely in the moonlight. You pulled me 
all the way on your sled, down to the Port! {She 
drops into the chair opposite him, and bends eagerly 
across the table) It was a big party, the only big 
one I ever went to, before or since. It was the first 
time I 'd ever waltzed, I mean before folks, with a 
man. I remember how it scared me, it seemed so bold ! 

STEVE 

There 's dances now that 's worse than waltzing ! 
You '11 see 'em in New York. 

HELEN 

My goodness! {She rises hastily) I almost forgot 
New York. 
STEVE {slowly) 

Helen ! I want you not to go ! 

HELEN 

Talkin' about — about that old red dress of mine has 
made us sort of sentimental. I guess you don't 
mean that, Steve! 



104 THE DETOUR [act in 

STEVE 

I do. You didn't act right, Helen, but I '11 try and 
forget it. 

HELEN 

And you '11 let Kate take the money and go, like I 
always planned she should! 

STEVE 

She 'U be all right here. 

HELEN 

She 's going, Steve ! That 's settled ! As for me, 

it 's for you to say. 
STEVE {angrUy) 

I say she ain't goin' ! 
HELEN (^coldly) 

Yes, she is, and so am I. You 'd better eat your 

supper. 

STEVE 

I won't! {He pushes his chair away and rises an- 
grily) I can't! To hell with it! 
\_He exits to the outside, slamming the door. Helen 
looks after him for a moment tearfully; then her 
pride asserts itself and she crosses grimly to the 
trunk. Takimg her box of treasured letters and pho- 
tographs, she goes to the stove, and lifting up one 
of the lids she dumps the whole mass into the fire. 
Then, thinking of his photograph, she crosses and 
gets it from the table and returns firmly and throws 
it into the flames, and crosses out to hall. Ben 
Glenny comes to outside door and knocks. There is 
no answer and he knocks agaim. Kate enters front 
hall and crosses to trunk with a bunch of keys im 
her hand. She hears the knock. 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 105 

KATE 

Come in! {Tlie door opens and Ben enters) Oh! 
It 's you, Mr. Glenny ! 

[She puts things in trunk and clears away the dishes 
on the table, putting the bread away and throwing 
the egg out. 

BEN 

I was lookin' for Tom Lane. 
KATE {coldly) 

He doesn't live here ! 

BEN 

He 's here a lot, and I 've got to find him. 

KATE 

He 's probably at his garage. 

BEN 

No, he ain't. {Kate crosses to the easel and takes 
her painting and puts it on table. Ben sees it) 
What's that? 

KATE 

My painting. 
BEN {looks at it) 
It 's nice. 

KATE 

Thank you. 

BEN 

It ^s as good as some photographs. 

[Kate starts to cover the paimting with stout paper. 

KATE 

You flatter me. I am going to take this to New 
York with me. Mother and I are going in about 
half an hour. 

BEN 

What are you going to take it to New York for? 



106 THE DETOUR [act ni 

KATE 

To sell it ! {He grins) Don't you believe I can? 

BEN 

Yes, I do ! Ain't they the damdest fools ! (He 
crosses to door) If Tom comes, tell him I 've got to 
see him. 

[^He exits to outdoors. Kate, who is covering her 
painting with paper, stops and looks about for some- 
thing to fasten it with. She crosses to hall door, 
and raising her voice, calls to her mother. 

KATE 

Mo+her! Mother! Where's some string? 
HELEN (upstairs) 
Up here! 

KATE 

I 'm coming ! 

She runs out. Steve wanders in from outdoors and 
stops in front of the clock and scowls at it, thenji 
crosses to the cupboard and butters the end of the 
half loaf of bread, and cuts a slice. And he is about 
to bite into it, there is a knock on the door. He 
pauses, with his mouth open, and looks angrily 
toward door as the knock is repeated. He puts his 
bread down with a patient sigh and crosses and opens 
door. Dana and Dora Lamont are discovered, a^ 
they stand vn the doorway. 

DOEA 

We want to speak to Mrs. Hardy. I am Mrs. La- 
mont. 

STEVE 

She left the eggs, they 're in this basket. {He crosses 
and gets basket from table) She said you 'd be 
over for 'em in the mornin'; it will be ninety cents. 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 107 

DORA 

Ninety? Why I have only been paying your wife 
eighty-five ! 

STEVE 

Eggs is up. 

DORA 

Give him ninety cents, please, Dana. 

J^She takes the basket from Steve as Dana hunts in 

his pocket, then draws out a roll of hills, 

DANA 

I 've nothing less than a dollar. {He holds out a 
dollar hill) You can collect next time or you may 
owe me ten cents. 
STEVE {takes the dollar) 

Looks like it would be fairer if I was to owe you ten; 
cents. 

DORA 

No. {She hAints in her hag and finds the change) 
Give him back the dollar; here is the right change. 

STEVE 

Just as you say. {He returns the dollar to Dana 
and takes the change; counting it carefully, he drops 
it inn his pocket) My wif e ^s upstairs if you want 
to see her, but she an' my daughter are going to 
New York in just a few minutes. 

DORA 

They wanted Mr. Lamont to look at a painting. 

STEVE 

Oh? {He turns to Dana) You're an artist.'* 

DANA 

Yes. 

STEVE 

I 'm glad you 're here. I got a reason for wantin' 



108 THE DETOUR [act hi 

you to look at Kate's picture! I guess this is it. 
{He crosses to table and removes the wrapping- 
paper and turns the picture over) Yes — there 
it is. 

DANA 

Yes. 

\_He crosses and stands looking down at the paint- 
ing, 
DORA (with him) 

The mother is so ambitious for her, Dana. I want 
you to like it, if you can! 

[There is a pause, during which Dana looJcs at the 
painting. Kate enters behind them, unnoticed, and 
stands in the door, looking on anxiously, 

STEVE 

Well? 
DANA {gravely, to Steve) 

You said you had a reason for wanting me to see 
this. What was your reason? 

STEVE 

I guess no man knows less about art, and such as 
that, than me; but it happens to be a bit of land 
around here she painted, and I know land. 

DANA 

Your opinion should be of as much value, then, as 
my own — what do you think of this yourself ? 

STEVE {slowly) 

Somehow, it seems to me it don't look like it ought — 
not just like — I don't know — it's Tom Lane's 
twenty acres all right — but it don't look just like 
it was alive, somehow, does it? 

DANA {gravely) 
No. 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 109 

STEVE 

It 's grass, but it ain't growing grass ; there 's the 
spring wheat, but you can't somehow think of its 
ever ripening — like wheat does. 

DANA 

No. 

STEVE 

Do you mean she can't paint .^^ 

DANA 

I am afraid — — 

[Kate gives a moan of angmshy and Dora turns and 
sees her, 
DORA {sharply) 
Dana! 

[The two men look around^ amd see her; there is a 
pause, Kate comes forward, trembling, looking from 
one to another. They all are distressed and u/neasy, 

STEVE 

I — I was speakin' to this gentleman here about your 
picture. He was sayin' it was pretty good, real 
good he seemed to think it was, for — for a girl that 
hadn't had much teachin' — I — I got to see if 
my stock 's all fixed for the night. {He crosses 
toward door) He liked that picture real well ; he '11 
tell you so himself, if you ask him. 
[He exits. Kate comes slowly down and looks at 
her painting. 

DORA 

My husband will tell you how very nice 

KATE 

Please! {She puts out her hand sharply, and Dora 
stops, Kate bends over picture) It doesn't look 
— ^ alive — he said — that's grass, but it doesn't 



110 THE DETOUR [act m 

seem to grow! I wonder! — {She looks at Dana) 
Was he right? I want to know the truth. Can't 
I paint? 

DANA 

That might mean so many things. 

KATE 

No, there 's only one thing it can mean ! Have I a 
talent, a real talent, like my mother 's always told 
me? 

DANA 

I am sorry, I am afraid you haven't. 

KATE 

If I worked hard — and I would — if I had good 
teachers, couldn't they teach me to be an artist? 
DANA * 

That is something that can't be taught; one is or 
is n't. 

KATE 

And I 'm — I 'm — not ? 

DANA 

I see nothing here but the conventional schoolgirl 
water color. Your color and drawing you could 
improve, but there is nothing here to justify the 
effort. 

KATE 

No talent? Nothing? 

DANA 

I am sorry I 

KATE 

You have been honest — you are a man who knows. 

DANA 

It hasn't been an easy thing to say. 



ACT lit] THE DETOUR 111 

KATE 

I — I don't just seem to know what to do. 

DORA 

My poor child! 

l^She comes forward with ready sympathy, 

KATE 

No! {She draws away) I had to know! You see, 
it means so much to us, to mother and me, we 've 

planned so long ! I 

[She breaks down and turns and almost runs out- 
doors. 
DORA (to Dana) 

You brute! You could have lied to her. 

DANA 

About anything else. 

DORA 

There 're other things in the world besides your 
paints and brushes ! 

DANA 

For girls like her. 1 11 take the eggs. (He takes 
the basket) Poor kid! 

DORA 

You are absolutely heartless ! 

DANA 

New York is full of them, breaking their hearts, — 
painters, musicians, writers, men and women who 
want to create something and who can't. Wanting 
to do it doesn't help much ; even trying doesn't — 
when it is n't there ! We '11 get the butter in the 
morning. 

\_They exit together to the outside. In a moment 
Steve, Tom and Ben Glenny pass the window and en- 
ter through the same door. 



112 THE DETOUR [act m 

BEN 

I know it 's hard, Tom, an' it 's a thing I ain't even 
got used to really relish doin', but it 's part of my 
job! 

STEVE 

Seems like they might have given the boy a chance. 

BEN 

Eight hundred dollars is a lot of money ! 

TOM 

I can't pay it, not now ; mebby I could if they 'd 
give me time. 

BEN 

The writ of attachment don't say nothin' about 
givin' any time ! I '11 have to ask you f er the keys 
to your garage, Tom. I take formal possession ac- 
cordin' to the law. Here 's ther writ. 
{^He shows paper. 

TOM 

It' s the damned detour that done it'! If they hadn't 
known about that, they 'd have waited till cash was 
comin' in! 

BEN 

An' the aggravatin' part of it is they ain't goin' to 
be no detour! 

TOM 

What.? 

BEN 

I just got word the road's open again; they decided 
not to fix it till next fall. Seems the summer folks 
have been objectin'! 

TOM 

The road 's open ! 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 113 

BEN 

Yes. 

TOM 

And you 're attachin' my garage ! 

BEN 

Less you can pay me eight hundred dollars. 

TOM 

Damned if I ain't disgusted! Talk about luck! 
Lost my garage! Lost everything! Just by a 
day ! 

\^Helen enters with her hat on and a small old-fash- 
ioned traveling bag in her hand. 

HELEN 

Where is Kate I It 's time we started ! 

STEVE 

I ain^t seen her ! 

HELEN 

Somebody 's got to get that trunk to the station. 
Is your car here, Mr. Glenny.'' 

BEN 

Sure, I '11 fetch it down. 
STEVE (coldlt/ to Helen) 
So you 're goin' ? 

HELEN 

Yes — you an' Tom carry the trunk out, an' put it 
in Mr. Glenny's car. Hurry up. 

STEVE 

I don't know as 

HELEN (locks trunk) 

Well, I do ! It 's the last favor I 'm ever goin' to 
ask of either one of you, an' I guess it won't hurt 
you none ! 



114 THE DETOUR [act m 

STEVE 

No, I don^t know as it would hurt us none. Come 

on. Tom! 

[Steve and Tom pick up trunk, 

HELEN 

Put it right in the car. I '11 get a check for it at 
the station. {Kate enters from outside) Oh! 
There you are, Kate, Mr. Glenn j 's goin' to take us 
down. Hurry and get your hat. 

BEN 

Wait a minute, Tom. I got to ask you for them 
keys. 

TOM 

Oh, yes. 

\_He and Steve set the trunk down and Tom takes 

out a bunch of keys and starts to take one key 

off. 

STEVE 

It 's pretty hard on Tom ! 

HELEN 

What is? 

STEVE 

Ben Glenny 's got an attachment on his place ; he 's 
takin' possession. 

HELEN 

Oh, I *m sorry ! 

TOM 

An' ther road 's open ! I 'd 'a' made big money ; 
now I 'm done for.'^ 

HELEN 

Can't somethin' be done about it? 

BEN 

Not without I 'm paid eight hundred dollars. 



ACT ml THE DETOUR 115 

KATE 

I '11 pay it. 

HELEN 

What are you talkin' about? 

KATE 

You said it was my money ! {She shows the roll of 
bills) I'm going to pay it. 

HELEN 

You can't ! 

KATE 

I 'm going to ! That 's all ! 
\^She starts to count money. 

HELEN 

But that only leaves us two hundred dollars ! 

KATE 

You can have that \ I don't want it ! Here 's the 

eight hundred, Mr. Glenny ! 

[Ben takes the money and starts to count it, 

HELEN 

But how can we live till you get so 's you can sell 
your paintings ! 

KATE 

Sell my paintings ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! Sell my grass 
that doesn't grow, and my wheat that will never 
ripen! Mr. Glenny here said they were all fools 
in New York. They 'd have to be to buy any picture 
I ever painted t 

HELEN 

Do you know what you Ve sayin'? 

KATE 

Mr. Lamont was here! Father made him look at 
that! {She points to the 'painting on table) At 
that awful, awful thing! 



116 THE DETOUR [act m 

HELEN 

He saw it? 

KATE 

And he said it was had! He said it was hopeless. 
No talent ! Nothing ! Never — never in all my life 
will I paint again ! Never ! Never ! 
TOM {sincerely touched) 

He told you that! The damned brute! He hurt 
you like that ! Oh, my poor little girl — I 'm sorry ! 
[^He holds out his arms to her, and she nms into 
them, clinging to him. 

KATE 

Be good to me, Tom! Comfort me! Help me! 
TOM (pets her) 

There — there — don't you cry ! 

HELEN 

Said you couldn't paint ! It ain't so ! It ain't ! It 

can't be ! We won't give up ! 
STEVE (turns on her sternly) 

Hush ! Can't you see she 's feelin' bad ! 
TOM (arms about Kate) 

You 'd ought to be ashamed ! Makin' more trouble 

at a time like this? 

KATE 

You mustn't speak like that, Tom. (She turns se- 
verely to Helen) But he 's right, m.other! It 's all 
your fault ! I never would have thought of painting 
if it hadn't been for you ! 

TOM 

I guess the less we say about it the better, so long 
as it turned out all right. 

STEVE 

That 's what I say ! Let bygones be bygones ! 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 117 

HELEX 

I won't believe it ! I can't. You ain^t going to give 
that money to Tom Lane ; the money I 've slaved 
for all these 3^ears ! I won't let you do it ! We won't 
give up, we '11 keep on tryin' ! 

KATE 

I won't. I couldn't. 

HELEN 

I say he can't have it. 

TOM 

All right. I won^t be under any favors to yer, if 
you feel that way about it ! Give her back the 
money, Ben ! 

BEN 

Just as you say. (He hands the moneif to Kate) 
Settle it among yers elves. 

TOM 

Now she 's got it, an' I tell yer somethin' yer can^t 
stop, Mrs. Hardy? Supposin' she was to give all 
that money to her own father, an' supposin' he 
was to give it to me as a payment on my twenty 
acres ! 

STEVE 

Now 3^ou 're talkin' ! 
KATE {giving him money) 
That 's just what 1 11 do. 

HELEN 

And he '11 have more land to pay taxes and interest 
on all our lives, and you '11 have your garage — 
and you '11 have her, my daughter ! 

TOM 

Everybody will have what they 've allers wanted ; no- 



118 THE DETOUR [act m 

body will lose nothin' at all, unless maybe it 's you, 
and all you '11 lose is just a dream. 

HELEN 

That 's all. 

[SJie sits heavily hy table. 
STEVE {to Ben) 

Here 's yer eight hundred. You can fix that bill of 

sale the first thing in the mornin*. 
BEN (writes receipt) 

Just so long as everybody 's satisfied. Here ! 

[He hands receipt to Tom, 

TOM 

All right. Have them papers ready early. 
[^He and Kate walk to door with Ben. 

BEN 

About ten. 

TOM 

Kate an' her father '11 bring 'em down, I figgur on 
bein' busy with my garage. 
[Katey Tom and Ben exit. 

STEVE 

I hope this '11 be a warnin' to yer, Helen. Yoii 
might have made a lot of trouble, if it hadn't been 
for me and Tom ! 

[Ben comes to door, in his hand the board on which 
is painted Detour. 
BEN (holds up board) 

Here 's the end of tb*s. I pulled it do\\ni. 

HELEN 

And everything is just the same as it was be- 
fore.^ 

BEN 

That 's right. 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 119 

HEI.EN 

Just the same as it always will bel 

BEN 

You bet ; good evenin*. 

\^He exits. 
HELEN (^very low) 

God — help — me ! 
STEVE (looks at clock) 

I bet that clock 's slow ! 

HELEN 

Slow? (She looks up at the clock) I guess not; 
mebby you 're hungry. ^ 

STEVE 

It 's later 'n I like waiting. 
HELEN (rises) 

I '11 fix you a good hot supper. 

l[As she crosses, he steps in front of her, holding out 

the ninety cents he takes from his pocket. 

STEVE 

Here. 

HELEN 

Wliat.? 

STEVE 

That Mrs. Lamont left it ; it *s your ^gg money. 

HELEN 

I thought the hens was yours. 

STEVE 

After this, I want you should have ther Qgg money 
for yourself. 

HELEN 

The trouble is that after this I won't have no use 
for money, Steve. 



120 THE DETOUR [act m 

6TEVE 

I '11 put it here. {He puts it on table) I 'd feel 
better if you took it ; it ^s only ninety cents ! 

HELEN 

Ninety cents for a dozen eggs ! I told you to say 
eighty-five ! 

STEVE 

I know, an' I tried to say it, only somehow it came 
out ninety. 

HELEN 

Mebby yow was the one that should have gone to 
New York. (aS'^^ crosses to Steve and starts to 
work) Ham and eggs is best, I guess. I suppose 
she '11 want Tom to stay. 

STEVE 

That looks like it, don't it.? {He points out window 
to where Tom and Kate stand in the alow of the sum- 
mer sunset. TorrCs arm is about Kate, her head is 
on his shoulders) See how happy they are! 

HELEN 

Yes — I know — right now. 

STEVE 

They look nice, don't they.? And in a year or so 
maybe there '11 be a baby. {She turns at this, 
startled) Yes — of course there '11 be a baby, — 
a girl, I hope ; girls are easier managed. Yes, I hope 
it 's a girl ; girls stay at home. 

HELEN 

Yes, girls stay at home! 

STEVE 

I sort to like to think about it, don't you? 
[He drops into chair. 



ACT III] THE DETOUR 121 

HELEN (thought full I/) 
A girl! 

STEVE 

You 're a good woman, Helen. I sort of hope she 
favors you. 

HELEN 

Another girl! Life sort of keeps goin' on forever, 
don't it.f* (She crosses to table) Steve .^^ 

STEVE 

Yes.? 

HELEN 

I guess I might as well keep the egg money. 
\^She draws the empty jug m which she had so long 
kept her treasure to her and slowly picks up the 
coins. 
STEVE (amused) 

Goin' to start savin' up again.'* 

HELEN 

I might. 

[^She drops the first coin into the empty jug. It 

falls with a clatter against the china bottom, 

STEVE 

What for? 

HELEN 

Oh — it might come in handy — some day. 
[She drops the others. 

STEVE 

What for.? 

HELEN 

Oh — I don't know. 

STEVE 

I do ! (He looks at her with a hroad gri/n) I bet 



122 THE DETOUR [act m 

I do ! For her ! For the baby that ain't even born 
yet. Ha ! Ha, ha, ha, ah ha ! 

[^But Ms lowd, coarse laughter does not hurt her. 
She is standing, her face glorified, looking out into 
the future, her heart swelling with eternal hope. 



THE END 



